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REPORT 

OF    THE 

HARVARD  CLASS  OF  1853 


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REPORT 


OF    THE 


HARVARD  CLASS  OF  1853 

. » 

1849-1013 

ISSUED    ON 

THE   SIXTIETH   ANNIVERSARY 

FOR  THE  USE  OF  THE  CLASS 
AND  ITS  FRIENDS 

Commencement,  1913 


CAMBRIDGE 
THE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS 


PREFACE 

MOST  of  the  following  class  biographies  were  read 
at  class-meetings  as  obituaries,  without  view  to 
publication.  Class  reports  in  the  usual  sense  have  never 
been  made,  having  come  into  general  use  since  our 
graduation,  and  this  Book  is  intended  in  some  sort  to 
supply  the  omission.  It  is  the  result  of  the  urgent  re- 
quest of  surviving  members  and  the  kind  assistance  of 
Classmate  Rantoul,  who  has  undertaken  the  Editorship. 

SAMUEL  S.  SHAW, 

Secretary. 


264223 


PREFATORY   NOTE 

BY  THE  EDITOR 

A  T  the  Annual  Dinner  of  the  Class  of  '53,  which  brought 
•**•  together  on  January  n,  1913,  at  the  Union  Club  of 
Boston,  eight  of  its  fourteen  surviving  members,  the  feeling 
was  universal  that  no  more  fitting  time  than  this  sixtieth  an- 
niversary would  present  itself  for  the  printing  of  the  sketches 
of  members  of  the  class  prepared  by  our  Class  Secretary  of 
the  last  fifty  years.  The  members  present  were:  Andrews, 
Eliot,  Lyman,  Rantoul,  Russell,  Sargent,  Shaw,  White. 

Accordingly,  Rantoul  was  asked,  with  the  cooperation  of 
Secretary  Shaw,  who  had  declined  the  function,  to  procure 
the  issuing  of  an  edition  of  these  life-stories,  which  should 
be  in  the  hands  of  surviving  members  of  the  class,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  deceased  members,  and  the  Secretaries  of  other 
classes,  at  the  coming  Commencement. 

The  class  left  college  with  a  membership  of  eighty-eight  — 
the  largest  class  ever  graduated  at  that  date.  Eleven  others 
besides  these  members  joined  the  class,  from  time  to  time, 
who  failed  to  complete  the  course.  Sargent  dropped  out  at 
the  opening  of  the  Junior  year,  but  was  reinstated  later  on 
petition  of  the  class,  and  Winsor,  who  left  in  the  Senior  year, 
got  his  degree  in  1868.  John  Godfrey  Neil  entered  as  a 
Sophomore,  and  left  in  the  middle  of  the  Senior  year.  Gardi- 
ner Green  Hammond  retained  his  place  in  the  class  through 
the  Freshman  year,  and  rejoined  it  for  part  of  the  Junior 
year.  George  William  Billings  and  Samuel  Carey  remained 
through  the  Freshman  and  Sophomore  years.  William  Ed- 
ward Dorsheimer,  Henry  Augustus  Edwards,  and  Adolphe 
Rost  did  not  remain  beyond  the  Freshman  year,  while  Edward 
Henry  Chace  and  Nathan  James  Clifford  remained  only 
through  the  first  Freshman  term.  Dorsheimer  received  an 
honorary  A.M.  in  1859. 

vii 


Preface 


Besides  such  concurrent  action  as  was  called  for  in  prepa- 
ration for  Class  Day,  which  proved  to  be  sadly  inharmonious, 
the  class  has  acted  together  on  very  few  occasions.  The  first 
was  that  of  the  Seventy-fifth  Anniversary  of  the  Battle  of 
Bunker  Hill.  There  was  a  public  celebration  at  Charlestown, 
and  ex-President  Everett  pronounced  an  oration  in  the  ship- 
house  at  the  Navy  Yard,  from  which  the  frigate  "  Vermont " 
had  just  been  launched.  The  class  was  present,  marching 
from  Cambridge.  Another  occasion  was  the  opening  of  the 
Grand  Trunk  Railway,  which  occurred  in  the  presence  of 
Lord  Elgin,  the  Governor  General  of  Canada,  of  President 
Fillmore,  and  of  other  personages  of  the  first  distinction. 
On  our  march  back  to  Cambridge  after  the  observances,  we 
were  entertained  at  the  Mt.  Vernon  Street  home  of  Adam 
Wallace  Thaxter  (H.  U.  '52)  and  we  paid  our  respects  to 
Mr.  Winthrop  at  his  home  in  Pemberton  Square,  who  did 
not  ask  us  in,  but  "  regretted  that  his  house  was  not  as  large 
as  his  heart."  On  Class  Day  Adams  Sherman  Hill  was 
Orator,  chosen  by  one  vote  after  thirty-three  ballots  at  two 
prolonged  class  meetings.  Cutler  was  Poet,  chosen  by  ac- 
clamation, Carroll,  Odist,  and  Albert  Gallatin  Browne  graced 
the  Class  Supper  with  an  Ode  of  very  exceptional  quality. 
Eliot  drilled  us  for  singing  the  Class  Ode  proper.  The  first 
Class  Secretary  was  Washburn,  and  he  resigned  in  1863,  to 
be  succeeded  by  Shaw. 

The  contribution  of  the  class  to  the  active  military  service 
of  the  country  would  include  Briggs,  the  surgeon  of  Colonel 
Shaw's  54th  Regiment;  Brown,  a  valued  officer  in  Colonel 
Lowell's  2d  Massachusetts  Cavalry,  recommended  for  the 
regular  army;  Dorsheimer,  a  Major  on  Fremont's  Staff  in 
Missouri ;  Dwight,  who  fell  at  Antietam ;  Hartwell,  engaged 
in  an  Ohio  Battery  in  driving  Kirby  Smith  out  of  Kentucky ; 
Hurd,  sorely  wounded  in  "  The  Wilderness,"  and  under  fire 
from  Antietam  to  Appomattox;  Livermore,  who  rose  from 
Lieutenant  to  Major  in  the  Heavy  Artillery;  Nourse,  Ad- 
jutant and  Captain  in  the  55th  Illinois  Infantry,  who  marched 
with  Sherman  from  Atlanta  to  the  Sea,  —  a  modern  Anabasis 
whose  Xenophon  has  not  yet  appeared;  Paine,  a  Major 

viii 


Preface 

General  by  Brevet  at  the  close  of  the  war;  Palfrey, 
graduated  at  the  head  of  his  West  Point  class,  to  become  one 
of  the  most  valued  engineers  in  the  service;  Pomeroy,  a  Cap- 
tain in  the  Regular  Army,  for  a  time  commanding  at  Fort  Inde- 
pendence in  Boston  Harbor;  Vaughan,  of  the  Topographical 
Engineers,  detailed  for  duty  at  the  War  Department ;  Whitte- 
more,  the  first  officer,  as  Major,  to  get  marching  orders,  and 
the  first  Harvard  man  to  go,  mustered  out,  after  long  service, 
as  Lieutenant  Colonel;  Wilson,  Adjutant  General  and  Chief 
of  Staff  to  Generals  Thomas  Ewing  and  Harvey. 

In  the  group  surrounding  the  Governor  in  front  of  the 
State  House,  when  the  colors  of  the  returning  troops  were 
surrendered  to  the  Commonwealth,  December  22,  1865,  there 
were  present  of  the  Class  of  '53,  then  but  twelve  years  out  of 
college,  Paine,  a  Brevet  Major  General  of  Volunteers,  com- 
manding, that  day,  one  third  of  the  Massachusetts  quota; 
Browne,  Special  Military  Secretary  to  the  Governor;  Adams 
of  the  Governor's  Staff,  and  Rantoul,  a  guest  of  the  Governor. 

Few  classes,  if  any,  have  shared  more  largely  in  the  service 
of  the  University.  Adams  was  a  member  of  the  Corporation 
from  1874  to  1897.  ft  mav  n°t  be  amiss  to  add  here  that  his 
son  has  been  its  Treasurer  since  1898.  Ammidown  was  a 
University  Lecturer  in  1888-89.  Cutler  was  Assistant  Pro- 
fessor and  Professor  of  Modern  Languages  from  1865  to 
1870.  Eliot  was  a  tutor  from  1854  to  1858;  Assistant 
Professor  of  Mathematics  from  1858  to  1861 ;  Assistant  Pro- 
fessor of  Chemistry  from  1858  to  1863;  Overseer  in  1868-69; 
President  for  forty  years,  from  1869  to  1909,  and  President 
Emeritus  since  1909,  receiving  the  degree  of  LL.D.  from 
Harvard  in  that  year  —  a  life  service,  all  but  six  years, 
devoted  to  the  University.  Gage  was  a  University  Lecturer 
in  1863-64.  Hill  was  Assistant  Professor  of  Rhetoric  from 
1872  to  1876;  Boylston  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory 
for  twenty-eight  years,  from  1876  to  1904;  and  after  that 
Boylston  Professor  Emeritus  with  the  Harvard  degree  of 
LL.D.  Lyman  was  an  Overseer  from  1892  to  1899.  Edward 
Pearce  was  a  tutor  from  1858  to  1861.  James  Mills  Peirce 
was  a  tutor  from  1854  to  1858  and  from  1860  to  1861 ;  As- 

ix 


Preface 


sistant  Professor  of  Mathematics  from  1861  to  1885;  Per- 
kins Professor  of  Astronomy  and  Mathematics  from  1885  to 
1906;  Dean  of  the  Graduate  School  of  Arts  and  Sciences 
from  1890  to  1895;  and  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts  and 
Sciences  from  1895  to  1898  —  another  life,  with  the  exception 
of  two  years,  spent  in  the  service  of  Harvard.  Peterson  was 
Assistant  Professor  of  Philosophy  from  1870  to  1872.  White 
was,  in  1858,  Instructor  in  Chemistry;  Lecturer  on  Parasites 
in  the  Medical  School,  and  University  Lecturer  at  the  Medical 
School  on  Skin  Diseases  in  1863-64;  Adjunct  Professor  of 
Chemistry  from  1866  to  1871;  Instructor  in  Medical  Chem- 
istry in  1871-72;  Professor  of  Dermatology  for  a  period  of 
thirty-one  years  from  1871  to  1902,  and,  since  that,  Profes- 
sor Emeritus  of  Dermatology  —  a  service  spread  over  forty- 
odd  years  of  which  Harvard  absorbed  all  that  was  not  claimed 
by  an  exacting  professional  practice.  Winsor  was  Librarian 
of  the  University  from  1877  to  1897. 

The  first  ten  of  the  class  in  rank  were  these,  and  they  stood 
in  the  following  order :  Carroll,  Eliot,  Erving,  Edward  Pearce, 
Hosmer,  Lyman,  Dwight,  Waterhouse,  James  M.  Peirce, 
Charles  E.  Johnson. 

It  would  seem  pertinent  to  indicate  approximately  the  pur- 
suits in  life  which  have  most  claimed  the  efforts  of  the  class. 
This  is  not  altogether  easy.  Almost  all  have  had  an  occupa- 
tion which  can  be  fairly  well  defined,  but  so  many  have  en- 
gaged in  several  occupations,  either  following  more  than  one 
at  once,  or  more  than  one  at  different  times,  that  the  estimate 
involves  deciding  which  of  a  number  of  pursuits  is  to  be 
reckoned  the  chief  one  —  a  delicate  duty  —  or  else  it  in- 
volves the  necessity  of  enumerating  one  person  in  several 
callings,  which  would  swell  the  total  beyond  the  numbers  of 
the  class.  A  rough  enumeration  would  show  results  not 
widely  at  variance  with  the  figures  given  below  —  without 
attempting  to  define  terms  too  nicely,  for  in  this  it  would  be 
possible  to  differ  much.  We  must  not  forget  the  familiar 
fact  that  the  man  who  plants  himself  as  a  lawyer  in  the  newer 
sections  of  the  West  is  almost  certain  to  become  interested 
in  banking,  real  estate  operations,  or  insurance  as  well,  nor 


Preface 


the  equally  familiar  fact  that,  in  the  older  sections  of  the 
country,  success  is  not  denied  to  the  shipowner  who  ventures 
into  railroads,  nor  to  the  stock-broker  who  deals  in  real 
estate. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  safe  to  say  that  the  Class  of  '53  has 
paid  tribute  to  the  professions  about  in  the  proportion  of 
twenty-five  to  the  law,  sixteen  to  education,  eleven  to  medi- 
cine, nine  to  the  pulpit,  leaving  twenty-five  for  commercial 
and  manufacturing  pursuits  generally,  and  a  residuum  of  un- 
placed members  made  up  of  farmers,  bankers,  writers,  archi- 
tects, and  engineers,  none  of  them  numerous,  and  together 
aggregating  a  dozen.  The  ratio  given  would  be  nearly  cor- 
rect, though  it  might  not  be  easy  in  some  cases  to  designate 
just  the  units  that  go  to  make  up  the  total. 

Our  class  festivities  have  served  us  well.  We  began  early, 
even  before  graduation,  with  having  a  class  dinner  now  and 
then  —  at  Porter's,  at  Parker's,  at  the  Revere  House  —  but 
there  was  no  regularity  nor  system  about  it.  These  sporadic 
gatherings  pleased  the  deipnophagous,  but  they  were  only  to 
be  got  together  after  correspondence  and  appeal.  As  years 
multiplied,  and  as  casual  meetings  grew  less  frequent,  and  as 
each  classmate  came  to  have  more  to  say  for  himself,  the 
idea  of  a  reunion  at  stated  intervals  became  more  and  more 
attractive,  and,  by  allowing  an  interval  of  a  year  or  more  to 
elapse  between  the  dinners,  we  succeeded  in  impressing  distant 
members  with  the  worthiness  of  the  call,  while  those  nearer 
home  could  not  always  be  persuaded  to  attend.  We  found 
ourselves  able  to  rely  on  the  attendance  of  classmates  from 
remote  points  in  the  country,  when  the  meetings  were  not 
too  frequent.  Nobody  was  ever  more  constant  than  King 
from  New  York. 

Gradually  we  settled  down  in  the  habit  of  an  annual  din- 
ner, called  at  a  comfortably  early  hour,  and  of  late  years 
regularly  at  the  Union  Club.  The  class  was  fortunate  in 
its  Secretary,  who  has  interested  himself  in  the  somewhat 
onerous  details  involved,  and  has  been  able  to  give  to  his 
formal  summons  the  relish  of  a  personal  invitation.  From 
twenty  to  thirty  members  have  been  a  common  number  pres- 

xi 


Preface 

ent  in  late  years.  Besides  these  gatherings,  brilliant  dinners 
have  been  given  in  two  or  three  instances  by  members  of  the 
class  —  one  by  Crocker,  January  20,  1900,  at  his  Boston 
residence,  and  one  by  Clark  at  the  Union  Club,  following, 
after  fourteen  years,  his  outing  at  Point  Shirley  in  1889. 
Clark's  Union  Club  dinner  fitly  introduced  the  half-century 
observances,  to  be  followed  the  next  day  by  a  luncheon  in 
University  Hall  and  by  a  delightful  tea  at  Peirce's  house  in 
Cambridge.  Other  casual  meetings  at  college  rooms  linger 
in  the  mind.  Weld  gave  a  memorable  home-dinner  at  West 
Roxbury  before  his  marriage  in  1859,  and  Rantoul  asked  the 
class  to  breakfast  at  Beverly  Farms  on  his  seventieth  birth- 
day in  1902,  when  nineteen  of  the  twenty-eight  living  mem- 
bers met. 

Classmates  who  recall  the  writer's  college  days  will  marvel 
at  the  self-effacement  he  has  practised  in  excluding  almost 
every  semblance  of  a  jest  from  this  compilation.  Of  course 
the  class  had  its  jokes,  and  some  of  them  served  the  purpose 
of  the  time  so  well  that  they  seem  to  have  deserved  a  better 
fate  than  to  perish  with  us.  But  each  class  has  a  humor  of 
its  own.  And  while  we  cannot  be  expected  to  forget  the 
mock-part  —  "a  Valley-Dictory  Dialogue  between  the  two 
Hills  " ;  or  the  "  Law  in  Dumper's  Case,"  which  Dwight 
thought  would  apply  to  the  coal-heaver,  when  he  came  home 
to  find  a  load  of  coal  sprawled  over  his  sidewalk;  or  the  dish 
that  was  passed  at  the  Misses  Upham's  table  for  collecting 
pigeon-bones,  "  pro  bono  publico  " ;  or  the  headache  after 
drinking  hock,  post  hoc,  propter  hoc;  or  the  codfish  hung  up 
in  the  State  House  to  save  codifying  the  laws;  or  the  waiter 
who  was  to  pass  the  celery  celerrime;  or  Columbus,  on 
landing,  speaking  of  the  natives  as  "  Indiginae,"  anglicized 
Indigins,  and  readily  corrupted  into  Ingins;  or  the  umbrella 
so  full  of  holes  that  it  was  absolutely  down-pourous ;  or  the 
traveller  who  made  a  stop  at  Dover,  in  order  to  try,  in  their 
native  habitat,  the  warm'd-over  puddings  his  wife  had  been 
serving  up  to  him  for  so  many  years;  or  Spurius  Dentatus 
introducing  false  teeth  into  Rome;  or  the  Governor  Briggs 
story;  or  a  score  of  others  —  while  we  may  cling  fondly  to 

xii 


Preface 

these  stanch  old  friends,  we  cannot  promise  them  a  kindlier 
future  than  the  oblivion  that  engulfs  the  rest. 

When  asked  to  see  these  sketches  through  the  Press,  I 
approached  the  proposal  with  some  misgiving,  feeling  that 
duty  to  the  past  made  it  one  not  lightly  to  be  ignored,  but 
that  it  involved  an  amount  of  labor  and  confinement  which 
could  not  fail  to  make  it  irksome  in  the  end.  Such  apprehen- 
sions have  disappeared.  The  work  of  the  Class  Secretary  has 
been  such  as  to  reduce  the  task  assigned  me  to  its  lowest 
terms.  And  of  the  series  of  sketches  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot 
to  lay  before  those  upon  whose  regard  the  members  of  my 
class  have  claims,  almost  no  sketch  has  failed  to  revive  a 
memory  which  deserved  to  live.  In  most  cases  it  has  been 
to  me  a  delightful  renewal  of  an  intimacy  long  suspended, 
and  in  some  it  was  a  new  study  of  character  almost  amount- 
ing to  a  revelation.  Either  the  classmate  had  greatly  matured 
after  graduating,  or  I  must  have  unconsciously  allowed  some 
personal  singularity  or  some  infelicity  of  manner  to  stand  in 
the  way  of  a  full  appreciation  of  the  man.  And  many  of 
these  revived  associations  appealed  to  the  strongest  ties  that 
have  given  value  to  my  life. 

R.  S.  R. 

SALEM,  MASSACHUSETTS,  June,  1913. 


xlii 


Harvard  1853 


RECORDS  OF  THE  CLASS 

JOHN    QUINCY   ADAMS, 

Eldest  son  of  CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS  (H.  U.  1825) 
and  ABIGAIL  (BROOKS)  ADAMS,  was  born  at  Boston  on  the 
22d  of  September,  1833,  a  descendant  from  two  conspicuous 
New  England  families,  having  for  paternal  grandfather  and 
great-grandfather  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  and  for 
maternal  grandfather  Peter  Chardon  Brooks,  the  wealthiest 
Boston  merchant  of  his  day.  Arrived  at  college,  when  he 
rose  in  Harvard  Hall,  for  the  regular  exercise  in  declamation, 
he  found  himself  placed  —  and  White's  diary  notes  the  fact 
—  between  a  portrait  of  his  great-grandfather,  John  Adams, 
on  the  one  side,  and  a  portrait  of  his  grandfather,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  on  the  other. 

After  receiving  instruction  in  the  private  school  of  Francis 
Phelps,  in  Phillips  Place,  opposite  King's  Chapel,  since  built 
over,  he  entered  the  Boston  Latin  School,  then  in  Bedford 
Street,  in  1844,  where  he  pursued  the  regular  five-year  course 
under  Messrs.  Dixwell,  master,  and  Gardner,  sub-master,  and 
entered  college  as  Freshman  in  1849.  Taking  his  degree  in 
July,  1853,  he  lost  no  time  in  applying  himself  to  professional 
studies,  and,  on  the  ist  of  August  following,  was  entered  as 
student  in  the  office  of  Messrs.  John  J.  Clark  and  Elias  Mer- 
win,  in  the  old  Brazier's  Building,  27  State  Street.  The  firm 
was  dissolved  in  the  following  April,  when  Lemuel  Shaw,  Jr., 
succeeded  Mr.  Merwin  as  partner.  His  whole  legal  education 

15 


%  .Harvard  Class  of  1853 
' 


.  .       . 

was  obtained  while  a  student  in  that  office,  and  he  never  availed 
himself  of  the  advantage  of  a  law  school  —  an  unusual  course 
for  a  young  man  to  whom  all  opportunities  were  open,  but 
which  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  he  ever  regretted.  Ad- 
mitted to  the  Bar  in  1856,  he  immediately  began  practice  with 
success  in  Suffolk  and  Norfolk  Counties.  It  is  doubtful,  how- 
ever, whether  purely  professional  distinction  ever  had  much 
attraction  for  him;  active  citizenship  was  rather  his  ideal, 
combined  with  the  pursuits  of  a  landed  proprietor.  He  very 
early  took  charge  of  the  family  estate  at  Mt.  Wollaston, 
Quincy,  the  improvement  and  cultivation  of  which  became 
one  of  his  main  objects  in  life.  It  contained  within  its  limits 
the  famous  "  Merrymount,"  celebrated  in  Massachusetts  his- 
tory for  the  disorders  and  revelries  of  Thomas  Morton,  and 
had  been  acquired  by  President  John  Quincy  Adams,  partly 
by  descent  from  his  maternal  ancestors,  the  Quincys,  who 
traced  their  ownership  back  to  a  grant  made  in  1635  to  Ed- 
mund Quincy  —  the  first  in  New  England  of  the  name  — 
and  partly  by  purchase. 

On  the  29th  of  April,  1861,  Mr.  Adams  married  Fanny  C, 
daughter  of  the  then  late  George  C.  Crowninshield,  of  the 
Salem  and  Boston  family  of  that  name,  son  of  Benjamin  W. 
Crowninshield,  Secretary  of  the  Navy  under  Madison  and 
Monroe,  and  member  of  Congress  from  1823  to  1831.  Mrs. 
Adams's  mother  was  Harriet,  daughter  of  David  Sears,  of 
Boston. 

Having  established  himself  on  what  has  been  described  as 
one  of  the  finest  model  farms  in  Massachusetts,  containing 
nearly  five  hundred  acres,  Mr.  Adams  commenced  the  career 
of  a  public-spirited  townsman  of  Quincy.  He  served  on  the 
School  Committee,  as  Trial  Justice,  and  again,  several  years 
later,  in  1873,  as  chairman  of  the  School  Committee;  and, 
in  the  last-mentioned  capacity,  was  largely  instrumental  in 
an  important  reformation  widely  discussed  as  "  The  Quincy 
System."  For  nearly  a  score  of  years  he  acted  by  common 
consent  as  moderator  at  all  town  meetings,  and  during  these 
years,  through  his  efficient  conduct  of  proceedings,  (the  meet- 
ings in  question  became  models  of  their  kind,  the  affairs  of 

16 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


the  town  were  reduced  to  order,  and  the  town  was  placed  on 
the  best  financial  footing. 

In  recording  his  son's  marriage  in  his  diary,  the  Hon. 
Charles  Francis  Adams  wrote :  "  The  times  are  not  auspicious 
for  similar  undertakings."  The  War  of  the  Rebellion  was  just 
breaking  out.  All  Mr.  Adams's  prepossessions  were  in  favor 
of  the  cause  of  the  North.  His  grandfather  had  combated 
Southern  ideas  in  Congress  with  vigorous  pertinacity,  and 
his  father  had  been  candidate  for  Vice-President  in  the  Free 
Soil  movement  of  1848.  During  the  four  years  1862  to  1865 
inclusive,  Mr.  Adams  was  on  the  military  staff  of  Governor 
Andrew,  and  in  1865  was  elected  as  a  Republican  to  the 
Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives,  a  delegate  from 
the  Sixth  Norfolk  District,  then,  and  during  his  subsequent 
terms  of  service,  coterminous  with  the  town  of  Quincy.  The 
events  of  the  year  1866  gave  a  new  direction  to  Mr.  Adams's 
political  views,  and  threw  him  into  new  political  associations. 
In  February  of  that  year  the  question  of  the  reconstruction 
of  the  Confederate  States  was  dividing  the  Republican  party, 
and,  with  quite  clearly  defined  constitutional  views,  he  sided 
strongly  with  Secretary  Seward  in  support  of  the  policy  which 
President  Lincoln  was  believed  to  have  favored.  Undeterred 
by  President  Johnson's  indiscreet  leadership,  he  supported  him 
on  principle,  then  and  there  breaking  with  the  Republican 
Party.  In  the  election  of  the  following  autumn  he  was  de- 
feated as  a  Representative  from  Quincy  upon  the  issue  of 
so-called  "  Carpet  Bag  Reconstruction."  In  1867  he  became 
Democratic  candidate  for  Governor.  Failing  election  as  Gov- 
ernor, he  again  represented  Quincy  in  the  Legislature  of  1868. 
He  now  became  more  prominent  in  national  politics,  and  his 
views  attracted  wide  attention. 

He  was  invited  by  the  State  Democratic  Committee  of 
South  Carolina  and  by  General  Wade  Hampton,  to  come  to 
the  South  in  order  that  he  might  learn  the  attitude  of  the 
Southern  people  and  make  a  report  of  his  experiences  upon 
his  return  to  Massachusetts.  In  acknowledging  the  invita- 
tion, he  stated  bluntly  that  if  he  should  go  South  he  should 
say  some  very  unwelcome  things.  He  told  them  frankly 

17 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


that  the  attitude  of  the  North  was  largely  inspired  by  dis- 
trust, which  was  based  in  part  upon  the  unwise  legislation 
of  the  Southern  States,  and  by  what  were  known  as  the 
"Black  Codes"  and  "Vagrant  Laws,"  but  the  committee 
prevailed  upon  him  to  go,  and  his  visit  gave  him  the  oppor- 
tunity to  deliver  two  speeches,  one  in  Columbia  on  October 
10,  and  the  other  in  Charleston  four  days  later.  With 
characteristic  boldness  he  introduced  himself  as  a  "  grandson 
of  one  of  the  earliest  opponents  of  your  peculiar  institution," 
and  as  an  "  ardent  supporter  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  favor  of  the 
vigorous  prosecution  of  the  War,"  and  as  "  one  who  hailed 
with  gratitude  the  abolition  of  slavery."  He  then  proceeded 
to  sketch  the  political  events  which  had  led  up  to  the  existing 
state  of  affairs  and  which,  as  he  believed,  involved  the  in- 
fraction of  Constitutiopal  principles,  first  by  the  South  and 
then  by  the  North.  He  urged  his  hearers  to  accept  cheerfully 
the  results  of  the  War,  and  to  cultivate  friendly  relations  with 
the  negroes. 

In  the  Presidential  election  of  1868  he  supported  Seymour 
against  Grant.  He  continued  to  be  nominated  as  Democratic 
candidate  for  Governor  of  Massachusetts  for  the  years  1869 
to  1871  inclusive,  and,  in  the  meantime,  sat  for  Quincy  in 
the  Legislature  of  1871,  and  afterwards  in  that  of  1874. 
Before  this,  his  last  political  office,  events  had  brought  his 
name  into  national  prominence  by  his  acceptance  of  the  nomi- 
nation as  Vice- President  of  the  United  States  in  connection 
with  that  of  Charles  O'Conor  as  President,  made  at  a  con- 
vention of  so-called  "  straight-out  Democrats  "  on  Septem- 
ber 2,  1872.  This  was  in  opposition  to  the  work  of  the  regu- 
lar party  convention  that  adopted  the  nomination  of  Horace 
Greeley,  made  originally  by  the  Liberal  Republicans,  the  party 
of  Carl  Schurz  and  B.  Gratz  Brown.  Besides  this  distinc- 
tion, Messrs.  O'Conor  and  Adams  were  selected  as  substitute 
nominees  of  the  Labor.  Reform  Convention,  in  place  of  Judge 
David  Davis  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  Joel  Parker,  an  ex- 
Governor  of  New  Jersey,  who  declined.  The  general  party 
dislocation  of  1872  did  not  apparently  affect  Mr.  Adams's 
standing  amongst  Democrats  of  his  own  State,  for  in  the 

18 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


following  year  he  received  the  regular  party  nomination  for 
Lieutenant-Governor,  made  jointly  with  that  of  William  Gas- 
ton  for  Governor,  but  they  failed  of  election. 

In  April,  1876,  he  suffered  a  very  severe  blow  in  the  death 
of  two  children,  victims  of  diphtheria,  who  died  and  were 
buried  on  successive  days  —  a  blow  from  which  he  never 
fully  recovered. 

The  election  of  Mr.  Adams  as  Fellow  of  Harvard  College 
in  1877  was  something  in  regard  to  which  he  said  he  was 
at  a  loss  to  know  how  it  came  about,  adding  modestly  that 
he  did  what  little  he  could  to  justify  the  unmerited  honor. 
Of  his  services  President  Eliot  writes  as   follows:  "As  a 
member  of  the  Corporation,  John  Quincy  Adams  was  a  strong 
reliance.     He  entered  into  the  work  of  the  Board  with  keen 
interest,  was  punctual  at  the  numerous  meetings,  and  always 
ready  to  state  his  views  with  clearness  and  decision.    Entirely 
practical,  he  was  of  great  assistance  to  the  Treasurer,  for  he 
was  at  the  time  the  best  qualified  member  of  the  Finance 
Committee  and  the  most  accessible.    Moreover,  he  was  ready 
to  take  responsibility,  and  to  approve  or  disapprove  with  de- 
cision financial  proposals.    His  judgment  in  such  matters  was 
excellent,  and  when  he  had  made  up  his  mind  —  of  course 
in  consultation  with  the  Treasurer  —  he  was  immovable.    In 
dealing  with  tenants  or  buyers  or  sellers,  the  Treasurer  could 
always  say,  'It  is  useless  for  me  to  entertain  your  proposi- 
tion;   I  am  sure  Mr.  Adams  would  not  consent  to  it.*     He 
was  generally  conservative  as  regards  investments  and  Uni- 
versity policies,  but,  on  just  occasion,  bold,  and  then  un- 
affected by  opposition  or  doubt.    He  never  refused  any  work 
for  the  University,  but,  on  the  contrary,  was  always  ready 
and  zealous.    After  the  lamentable  death  of  two  of  his  chil- 
dren by  diphtheria,  Mr.  Adams  resigned  several  of  his  posi- 
tions of  trust,  and  seemed  to  mean  to  withdraw  himself  from 
society  and  from  business  engagements.    Accordingly,  when 
the   Corporation  had  decided  that  they  wanted  him  as   a 
member,  and  I  went  to  some  of  his  friends  to  ask  them  what 
they  thought  of  the  choice,  and  how  he  would  take  the  pro- 
posal, all  but  one  of  them  discouraged  me  with  the  statement 

19 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


that  he  would  certainly  decline.  Nevertheless,  I  went  to  his 
office,  described  the  work  of  a  member  of  the  Corporation 
as  accurately  as  I  could,  and  asked  him  to  take  the  proposal 
into  consideration.  When  I  had  finished  my  somewhat  long 
description,  he  immediately  replied,  '  I  do  not  want  any  time 
for  consideration ;  I  '11  do  it.'  Do  it  he  did,  with  thorough- 
ness, and  apparently  with  enjoyment."  He  served  seventeen 
years. 

The  movement  of  1879  to  make  Benjamin  F.  Butler  Gov- 
ernor of  Massachusetts  forced  Mr.  Adams  into  another  seced- 
ing minority,  and  he  was  chosen  candidate  for  the  Governor- 
ship by  a  small  faction  known  as  the  Faneuil  Hall  Democrats. 

He  was  now  withdrawing  from  public  life  and  occupying 
himself  with  business  affairs  almost  exclusively.  He  received 
the  nomination  for  Representative  for  the  Second  Congres- 
sional District,  in  1884,  but  declined  to  serve.  More  than 
once  he  was  talked  of  as  a  suitable  member  of  the  cabinet  of 
President  Cleveland,  but  without  any  encouragement  on  his 
part.  At  the  beginning  of  1889  he  was  State  Director  of 
the  Fitchburg  Railroad;  Trustee  of  the  Boston  Real  Estate 
Trust,  and  of  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor  at  Quincy ;  President 
of  the  Quincy  &  Boston  Street  Railway;  Director  of  the 
American  Loan  and  Trust  Company,  of  the  Security  Safe 
Deposit  Company,  of  the  West  Michigan  Lumber  Company, 
and  of  a  number  of  other  Western  companies  of  like 
character. 

Of  his  later  years  his  brother,  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
says :  "  It  was  almost  impossible  to  induce  him  to  go  away 
from  home  for  any  length  of  time,  or  to  any  unaccustomed 
place.  Between  the  time  of  his  marriage  and  1880,  his  sum- 
mers were  passed  in  Quincy,  chiefly  on  his  place  at  Mt.  Wol- 
laston,  where  he  built  a  house  in  1872.  His  winters  between 
1 86 1  and  1866  were  passed  in  Boston.  Subsequent  to  1866 
he  lived  at  Quincy  all  the  year  round  until  about  the  year 
1880,  after  which  he  again  had  a  house  in  Boston  (177 
Commonwealth  Avenue)  where  he  passed  his  winters.  In 
1880  he  became  a  member  of  the  Glades  Club  at  North 
Scituate,  and  during  the  remaining  years  of  his  life  some  ten 

20 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


or  twelve  weeks  in  the  summer  were  regularly  passed  with 
his  family  there.  He  was  fond  of  the  water,  and,  at  one 
period,  sailed  much.  I  think  on  the  whole  he  derived  more 
enjoyment  from  his  connection  with  'the  Glades/  a  club  of 
eight  families,  during  the  last  fourteen  years  of  his  life 
than  from  any  other  single  source.  It  afforded  him  a 
variety  in  life,  before  lacking.  My  brother's  single  trip  to 
Europe,  visiting  Italy,  Paris,  and  London,  covered  about 
three  months,  from  the  middle  of  January  to  the  middle  of 
April,  1894." 

Mr.  Adams  returned  from  Europe  suffering  from  an  at- 
tack of  malaria,  and  his  health  continued  poor  during  the 
summer.  In  the  month  of  August  he  sustained  a  slight  attack 
of  apoplexy  from  which  he  rallied.  A  second  attack  proved 
fatal,  and  he  died  at  half -past  five  on  the  morning  of  August 
14,  1894.  At  his  decease,  Mr.  Adams's  family  consisted  of 
his  widow;  —  three  sons,  George  Caspar,  since  deceased,  of 
the  Class  of  1886;  Charles  Francis,  of  the  Class  of  1888, 
Treasurer  of  Harvard  College;  Arthur,  of  the  Class  of  1899, 
and  one  daughter,  Abigail.  Of  the  children  deceased,  the 
son  John  Quincy  died  on  April  12,  1876,  in  his  fifteenth  year; 
the  daughter  Fanny  on  April  nth  of  the  same  year  at  the 
age  of  two  years  and  eight  months. 

In  youth  Mr.  Adams  was  singularly  handsome;  a  ruddy 
complexion,  a  thick  head  of  auburn  hair  which  yielded  early 
to  the  hereditary  decorous  baldness  of  the  family,  and  a  well- 
built  figure  gave  an  impression  of  great  health  and  vigor. 

EDWARD    HOLMES   AMMIDOWN, 

Son  of  HOLMES  and  SERAPH  (HODGES)  AMMIDOWN,  was 
born  in  the  town  of  Southbridge,  Massachusetts,  on  October 
28,  1830.  The  family  removed  to  Boston  in  the  autumn  of 
1836.  He  entered  the  English  High  School  in  1844,  and 
remained  throughout  the  regular  course  of  three  years. 
The  year  from  the  summer  of  1847  t°  tnat  °f  I^4^  ne  passed 
at  Andover,  Massachusetts,  studying  modern  languages.  In 
September,  1848,  he  determined  to  go  to  college,  and  entered 
at  Harvard,  July,  1849,  as  Freshman,  with  the  Class  of  1853. 

21 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


His  rank  was  high.    With  Peirce  he  was  awarded  the  1852 
Bowdoin  Prize  for  dissertations. 

On  graduating  Ammidown  at  once  considered  and  de- 
clined the  rather  flattering  offer  of  a  position  on  the  edi- 
torial staff  of  the  "  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,"  and  began  an 
eventful  business  career  as  clerk,  without  salary,  in  the  whole- 
sale dry-goods  house  of  Sweetser,  Gookin  &  Company,  of 
Boston.  Promotion  came  in  the  form  of  a  situation  with 
Read,  Chadwick  &  Company,  dry-goods  commission  mer- 
chants, at  a  salary  of  five  hundred  dollars,  the  service  in- 
cluding the  supervision  of  a  calico-printing  establishment  at 
Compton,  Rhode  Island,  and  a  semi-weekly  visit  to  that  place 
during  the  spring  and  summer  of  1854.  At  this  time  his 
father  had  entered  the  dry-goods  commission  business  and 
desired  Ammidown  to  join  him.  The  connection  continued 
until  1860,  during  which  time  Ammidown  was  engaged  in 
business,  travelling  in  various  parts  of  the  Union.  A  tour 
in  1856  led  him  through  Southern  and  Western  States,  and 
he  visited  Nashville,  Louisville,  Chicago,  where  the  process 
of  raising  the  level  of  the  city  was  going  on,  and  St.  Louis. 

At  this  time  he  was  active  in  founding  the  short-lived  Har- 
vard Club,  which  had  rooms  in  Tremont  Street,  and  had 
among  its  members  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  Charles  F.  Adams, 
and  George  S.  Hillard.  The  commercial  crisis  and  panic  of 
1857  left  little  hope  of  any  immediate  success  to  be  made  in 
the  dry-goods  trade,  and  Ammidown  availed  himself  of  the 
period  of  recovery  to  visit  Europe.  He  sailed  on  December 
1 6  for  Liverpool,  and  hastened  through  England  to  Paris, 
where  he  employed  ten  weeks  in  the  study  of  French  in  a 
French  family,  and  in  sight-seeing.  Proceeding  by  sea  from 
Marseilles  to  Naples,  after  seeing  all  that  was  interesting 
in  that  vicinity,  Ammidown  turned  northward  and  travelled 
with  American  friends  by  Vettura  as  far  as  Florence,  taking 
in  Rome  by  the  way;  through  Venice,  Trieste,  Vienna, 
Prague,  reaching  Dresden,  where  he  found  lodging  in  the 
family  of  the  Hofrath,  Director  Dittmarsch,  a  government 
official  in  charge  of  all  the  theatres  in  the  city,  by  whom  he 
was  introduced  to  the  most  eminent  actors  and  actresses  of 

22 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Germany,  meeting  them  at  dinners  and  picnics.  Among  them 
were  members  of  the  Schroeder  family,  Emil  Derdrient  and 
Johanna  Wagner. 

While  at  Dresden,  most  opportunely,  Ammidown  received 
an  invitation  from  the  distinguished  naturalist,  Dr.  Augustus 
A.  Gould,  to  make  a  trip  with  him  through  Switzerland.  This 
resulted  most  satisfactorily,  the  doctor  being  cordially  re- 
ceived by  scientific  men  wherever  they  went.  After  spend- 
ing some  time  travelling  in  England  and  Scotland,  Ammidown 
arrived  at  Boston  in  September,  1858,  and  found  the  panic 
of  1857  apparently  forgotten  and  active  business  going  on, 
and  he  resumed  his  business  of  travelling.  In  the  fall  of 
1860  and  in  the  midst  of  the  excitement  over  the  presidential 
election  of  that  year  he  opened  an  office  in  New  York.  After 
the  first  financial  trouble  which  was  caused  by  the  loss  of 
Southern  business  and  Southern  debts,  a  period  of  great 
activity,  stimulated  by  the  inflation  of  the  currency  and  the 
demands  of  the  government  as  a  customer  and  by  a  high 
tariff,  ensued.  These  years  were  profitable  to  Ammidown, 
and  on  June  i,  1872,  he  married  Mary  Adelaide  Ammidown, 
daughter  of  Luther  S.  and  Mary  L.  (Russell)  Ammidown, 
of  Southbridge,  and  made  a  second  tour  in  Europe.  The 
great  panic  in  1873  changed  the  aspect  of  affairs,  and  it 
became  necessary  to  struggle  night  and  day  with  financial 
difficulties,  but  when  1874  came  he  was  substantially  free 
from  debt  and  prepared  to  prosecute  business  with  new  en- 
ergy. The  results,  however,  were  not  very  satisfactory  until 
1879,  when  a  period  of  three  years  of  extraordinary  success 
ensued. 

Meantime,  in  1864,  ne  was  made  a  Director  of  the  Im- 
porters' and  Traders'  Bank  of  New  York,  one  of  the  largest 
of  that  city,  an  office  which  he  held  for  twenty-five  years;  a 
Director  in  the  Gebhardt  Fire  Insurance,  and  in  the  United 
States  Life  Insurance  Companies  of  New  York;  member  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  State  of  New  York,  on 
the  Committee  of  Foreign  Commerce  and  the  Revenue  Laws. 
As  chairman  of  that  committee  he  made  several  reports  on 
national  questions  which  were  printed  for  distribution  in 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Congress  and  throughout  the  country;  the  most  important 
of  these  related  to  President  Arthur's  proposed  Spanish  treaty 
and  to  the  Chinese  Exclusion  Act.  During  all  the  time  of 
his  residence  in  New  York  Ammidown  was  engaged  in  vari- 
ous manufacturing  enterprises,  in  woolen,  cotton,  silk,  and 
jute  fabrics ;  was  a  member  of  the  National  Society  of  Wool 
Manufacturers,  and  often  called  on  to  testify  before  com- 
mittees of  Congress  in  discussions  on  the  tariff  question.  His 
first  contribution  to  the  press  which  attracted  attention  was 
an  article  in  the  "New  York  Tribune,"  in  1883,  entitled 
"  National  Illiteracy."  From  this  time  forward  he  became 
permanently  and  publicly  identified  with  the  policy  of  pro- 
tection and  its  adoption  as  a  Republican  party  measure.  He 
organized  the  Woolen  Goods  Association  and  the  American 
Protective  Tariff  League,  which  had  branches  in  every  State 
in  the  Union ;  raised  $200,000  to  establish  a  Republican  penny- 
paper,  the  "  New  York  Press  " ;  established  the  "  American 
Economist,"  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  Tariff  League, 
and  wrote  for  several  years  its  leading  editorials.  His  re- 
port in  1884,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Com- 
merce of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  opposing  the  ratifica- 
tion of  the  Spanish  treaty,  secured  the  approval  of  a  large 
majority  and  prevented  President  Arthur  from  urging  its 
confirmation.  In  December,  1889,  his  report  in  opposition 
to  the  proposed  Chinese  Exclusion  Act  is  credited  with  hav- 
ing had  the  effect  to  delay  its  passage  for  two  years.  He 
was  chosen  a  presidential  elector  in  1888.  In  1890  he  had 
an  active  part  in  formulating  and  securing  the  enactment  of 
the  McKinley  Tariff.  Ammidown  publicly  opposed  Mr. 
Blaine's  scheme  'for  reciprocity  as  it  was  at  first  introduced, 
and  led  Mr.  Elaine  to  modify  it  essentially.  He  was  obliged 
to  decline  an  appointment  by  President  Harrison  as  one  of 
nine  National  Commissioners  to  the  Columbian  Exposition. 

During  the  spring  of  1890  Ammidown  was  encouraged  to 
undertake  a  speculation  in  wool  involving  the  investment  of 
more  than  a  million  dollars,  in  which  the  results  of  forty  years 
of  business  activity  disappeared.  This  was  based  largely  on 
the  expectation  of  an  increased  duty  on  wool.  But  the  in- 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


crease  was  delayed  till  September,  giving  importers  ample 
time  to  fill  the  market,  and  all  hope  of  being  able  to  carry 
until  the  market  should  be  boomed  was  frustrated  by  the 
paralyzing  effect  of  the  failure  of  Baring  Brothers  &  Com- 
pany in  October.  The  firm  of  Ammidown  &  Smith  paid 
its  debts,  but  Ammidown's  individual  notes  went  to  protest, 
and  he  was  obliged  to  make  an  assignment  and  left  New 
York  to  try  his  fortunes  elsewhere.  While  in  Paris  in  May, 
1891,  his  attention  was  attracted  by  a  glowing  description 
of  the  country  about  Puget  Sound.  A  visit  led  to  a  perma- 
nent residence  at  Seattle  and  to  an  interest  in  various  enter- 
prises and  the  Presidency  of  the  Seattle  Power  Company, 
which  subsequently  sold  its  property  to  the  city  of  Seattle. 

EDWARD    REYNOLDS    ANDREWS 

119  BEACON  ST.,  BOSTON,  May  19,  1903. 
SAMUEL  S.  SHAW,  Esq.,  Sec.  Class  of  '53. 

MY  DEAR  SHAW  :  In  response  to  your  frequent  requests  for 
memoranda  of  the  events  of  my  life  for  the  Class  Book,  I  will 
try  to  put  down  some  which  may  possibly  be  of  interest  to  the 
class. 

I  was  born,  on  December  22,  1831,  in  Central  Court,  Boston, 
which  is  now  covered  by  a  part  of  Jordan,  Marsh  Company's 
store.  My  parents  were  WM.  TURELL  and  FANNIE  MACK  AY 
(nee  REYNOLDS)  ANDREWS.  My  father  graduated  at  Harvard 
in  the  Class  of  1812,  and  was  Treasurer  of  the  College  from 
1853  to  1857. 

I  began  my  education,  when  I  was  two  years  old,  at  a  small 
infant  school  in  Central  Court;  went  next  to  a  school  kept 
by  Miss  Whitney  under  the  First  Church  in  Chauncy  Place, 
and  later  to  the  preparatory  department  of  the  Chauncy  Hall 
School,  and  after  that  to  public  schools  in  East  Street  and 
Mason  Street,  entering  the  Boston  Latin  School  in  1844  and 
Harvard  College  in  1849. 

During  my  Freshman  year  I  roomed  and  boarded,  at 
five  dollars  per  week,  on  Brattle  Street,  in  the  house  next 
above  the  famous  blacksmith-shop,  where  "  the  Village  Smithy 
stands."  But  Longfellow  in  this  case  took  a  poet's  license,  as 

25 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


the  blacksmith  died  first  and  my  landlady  was  the  widow  of  the 
blacksmith.  Kurd  had  rooms  in  the  same  house.  I  took  my 
meals  during  the  rest  of  my  college  course  at  Mrs.  Willard's 
on  Mt.  Auburn  Street,  with  several  classmates  and  others, 
price  three  dollars  per  week,  and  roomed  with  Briggs  in 
Stoughton,  Hollis,  and  Holworthy.  I  was  absent  from  college 
during  most  of  the  second  term  of  my  Senior  year,  having  a 
serious  trouble  with  my  eyes,  but  graduated  with  the  class 
without  any  final  examination :  this  shows  how  much  easier  it 
was  to  get  a  degree  at  Harvard  then  than  now. 

In  October,  1853,  I  went  abroad  and  was  absent  until 
August,  1855.  I  spent  the  first  winter  in  a  French  family  in 
Passy  near  Paris,  a  suburb  where  Dr.  Franklin  once  lived. 
In  the  spring  of  1854  I  went  to  England  and,  besides  spend- 
ing much  time  in  London,  made  quite  an  extensive  tour 
through  England  and  Scotland,  visiting  the  chief  cathedral 
cities  and  most  picturesque  and  rural  counties  of  that  beauti- 
ful country,  Public  stage-coaches  were  then  still  in  use,  and 
I  made  many  interesting  journeys  by  coach,  and  listened  with 
interest  to  the  tales  of  the  famous  old  story-telling  drivers. 

In  the  autumn  of  1854  I  travelled  quite  extensively  and 
slowly  through  Belgium,  Holland,  and  Germany  and  went  to 
Rome  for  the  winter.  Travelling  abroad  was  not  so  common 
then  as  now,  and  the  American  Colony  in  Rome  was  small, 
but  very  "  select "  and  social.  With  a  few  agreeable  young 
men  I  spent  many  days  in  sight-seeing,  and  we  usually  met  and 
dined  together  at  the  restaurant  Lepre,  where  we  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  many  of  the  Roman  artists.  The  American 
sculptor  Crawford  was  then  in  Rome  and  doing  his  best  work. 
He  was  easily  the  head  of  the  American  Colony. 

In  March  I  made  a  short  visit  to  Naples  and,  returning, 
joined  a  family  party  on  a  six-day  journey  to  Florence  by 
vetturino,  and  later  to  Venice  in  the  same  way.  Of  the  party 
was  Miss  Sarah  H.  Addoms  of  New  York,  whom  I  married  in 
the  following  December. 

I  spent  the  next  ten  years  in  and  near  Boston,  at  first  in  the 
crockery  business,  and,  not  caring  for  that,  I  bought  a  hundred- 
acre  farm  in  West  Roxbury,  which  I  named  the  "Home 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Farm."  I  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  so-called  "  Gentle- 
man-farmers," of  whom  there  are  now  so  many.  This  was 
a  most  interesting  part  of  my  life,  and  although  I  gave  up 
farming  in  1866,  the  knowledge  of  agricultural  matters  which 
I  then  acquired  has  added  greatly  to  the  pleasure  and  interest 
of  my  life,  especially  when  travelling.  From  that  time  I  never 
ceased  to  want  a  farm  again. 

In  the  year  1866  I  abandoned  farming,  went  to  Europe  and 
made  Paris  my  home  until  1875  —  I  had  three  children  who 
required  educational  opportunities  which  the  farm  could  not 
afford.  So  I  went  into  the  banking  and  commission  business 
in  Paris.  My  life  in  Paris,  where  I  was  not  trying  to  kill 
time,  as  so  many  Americans  do,  was  very  interesting.  My 
days  were  spent  as  by  business  men  at  home,  with  an  occa- 
sional holiday  for  sight-seeing  and  country  excursions.  A 
daily  ride  or  drive  in  the  Bois,  the  best  theatres  in  the  world, 
the  galleries  and  the  street  sights,  were  a  never-ending  source 
of  interest  and  pleasure.  Housekeeping  was  easy,  and  my 
children  had  all  the  educational  advantages  which  Paris 
afforded,  but,  in  my  opinion,  they  are  not  equal  to  those  in 
this  country.  My  summers  were  spent  at  St.  Germain,  quite 
near  to  Paris.  The  French  Empire  was  then  at  the  height  of 
its  glory.  In  the  year  1867,  the  year  of  the  Great  Exposition, 
Paris  was  visited  by  all  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe,  and  they 
were  entertained  with  all  the  splendor  of  which  Paris  was 
capable. 

I  was  visiting  in  this  country  with  my  family  when  the 
Franco-Prussian  War  broke  out  and  remained  here  until  the 
Prussians  entered  Paris,  when  I  hastened  to  return  to  my 
business  and  my  Paris  home.  But  on  reaching  Queenstown 
we  heard  of  the  breaking  out  of  the  Commune.  Consequently 
we  remained  in  and  near  London  until  the  Commune  was 
crushed  by  the  government  troops.  Meanwhile  I  made  a  visit 
to  Paris  on  business,  the  events  of  which  may  be  of  interest. 
All  of  us  who  have  been  abroad  remember  the  excitement  at- 
tending the  arrival  of  the  Calais  train  at  the  depot  of  the 
Chemin  de  Fer  du  Nord  in  Paris  —  the  large  and  small  omni- 
buses meeting  the  usually  large  number  of  passengers.  My 

27 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


arrival  witnessed  a  different  scene.  I  and  one  other  were  the 
only  passengers.  It  did  not  take  long  to  pass  my  trunk 
through  the  douane,  and  I  entered  the  only  omnibus  at  the 
station,  and  the  driver  placed  my  trunk  inside  as  a  precaution, 
so  as  not  to  attract  attention  as  we  passed  through  the  almost 
deserted  streets  to  the  Hotel  Chatham.  No  difficulty  in  get- 
ting a  room  —  there  were  half  a  dozen  guests  in  all  —  at  the 
hotel.  I  had  the  breakfast  room  to  myself,  and  when  I  went  to 
the  usually  crowded  restaurant  on  the  boulevard  and  corner  of 
the  Place  de  P Opera,  for  my  dejeuner  a  la  fourchette,  I  was 
almost  the  only  guest  there.  Paris  was  indeed  lonely;  the 
boulevards  were  deserted ;  most  of  the  shops  from  the  Made- 
laine  to  the  Rue  de  la  Paix,  and  thence  through  the  Place 
Vendome  to  the  Rue  de  Rivoli,  were  closed  and  placarded  with 
"  A  Louer "  on  every  window  pane,  and  all  the  glass  was 
pasted  over  with  broad  strips  of  paper  to  prevent  breaking 
when  the  column  in  the  Place  Vendome  should  fall.  It  was 
still  standing,  but  cut  away  on  the  up-street  side  towards  the 
Rue  de  la  Paix  as  one  cuts  trees  in  the  forest  to  fell  them ;  and 
when  I  returned  to  Paris  some  weeks  later  the  column  was 
prostrate,  lying  on  heaps  of  straw,  which  had  been  placed  there 
to  break  the  fall,  and  not  a  pane  of  glass  was  broken,  as  they 
might  have  been  without  the  paper  strips. 

The  day  on  which  I  reached  Paris  had  been  set  apart  as  a 
day  of  armistice  to  enable  the  non-combatants  of  Neuilly,  who 
had  been  seeking  shelter  from  the  shells  of  Mt.  Valerien  in  the 
cellars  of  the  houses  destroyed  in  the  town,  to  come  into  Paris. 
Neuilly  had  been  the  battlefield  of  many  combats;  the  walls 
of  the  houses,  peppered  by  the  Minie  rifle  balls,  showed  how 
desperate  the  righting  had  been.  The  Avenue  de  la  Grande 
Armee,  which  was  in  the  direct  line  of  fire  from  Mt.  Valerien, 
showed  the  effects  of  the  terrible  bombarding  from  that  fort 
—  the  central  pathway  was  strewn  with  broken  trees  and  lamp- 
posts, and  the  houses  on  both  sides  were  shattered  by  the 
shells,  and  in  the  courtyards  of  some  of  the  houses  broken 
shells  had  been  made  into  great  piles  by  the  occupants  during 
the  periods  of  cessation  of  firing  —  but  that  day  the  poor 
refugees  from  Neuilly  strolled  slowly  along,  bringing  with 

28 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


them  the  few  small  remains  of  their  household  goods  which 
they  had  been  able  to  rescue  from  their  ruined  homes.  The 
following  day  the  bombardment  began  again,  and  the  booming 
of  the  exploding  shells  was  heard  through  the  streets  of  Paris. 
The  streets  were  deserted,  but  occasionally  one  heard  the  sound 
of  drum  and  fife,  and  soon  would  appear  a  file  of  the  Com- 
mune soldiery,  marching  and  being  drilled  for  defence.  They 
were  a  sorry-looking,  desperate  crowd,  and  one  could  not  help 
feeling  nervous  lest  one  should  himself  be  forced  into  the 
ranks.  I  had  a  great  feeling  of  relief  when,  a  few  days  later, 
having  finished  my  business,  I  had  left  Paris  on  the  train  and 
passed  St.  Denis  and  was  once  more  protected  by  the  wearer 
of  the  Prussian  helmet. 

I  had  come  from  London  to  consult  a  lawyer  on  important 
business,  and  found  that  he  was  at  his  country  place  a  few 
miles  south  of  Paris.  Horses  were  scarce  in  Paris  —  they 
had  all  been  eaten  during  the  siege ;  so  I  started  to  walk.  My 
route  lay  through  the  Barriere  d'Enfer.  But  I  was  not  per- 
mitted to  pass.  My  American  passport  would  not  avail.  I 
must  get  a  passport  from  the  Commune.  So  to  the  police 
headquarters  I  went,  and  was  addressed  by  a  man  in  shabby 
dress  sitting  at  the  desk  with,  "  Eh  bien,  Citoyen !  que  voulez- 
vous  ?  "  Finally  I  was  provided  with  a  pass  permitting  me  to 
go  and  return,  it  being  stated  therein  that  I  was  born  in  the 
"  departement  "  of  the  "  Etats  Unis  " ;  the  employe  not  dream- 
ing that  said  department  was  not  in  France.  So  my  sortie  and 
entree  being  provided,  I  left  Paris  through  the  Barriere 
d'Enfer,  the  same  guarded  strongly  by  soldiers  and  almost 
impassable  chevaux  de  frise  beyond  the  gates.  I  had  about 
five  miles  to  walk,  along  a  straight  road,  between  forts  on 
either  side,  both  belching  forth  shells  into  Paris.  Before  I  left 
I  was  told  that  on  foot  I  would  be  safe,  but  I  did  not  feel 
very  sure  of  it,  and  was  right  glad  when  I  reached  Paris  again 
alive  after  transacting  my  business. 

My  next  visit  to  Paris  was  by  the  first  train  which  left  Lon- 
don after  the  Commune  was  crushed  and  the  city  taken  by  the 
government  troops.  I  arrived  early  on  Sunday  morning,  and 
spent  several  days  driving  about  the  city,  seeing  the  fearful 

29 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


destruction  by  the  petroleuses;  the  barricades  had  not  been 
removed,  and  many  were  the  signs  of  the  desperate  fighting 
which  had  taken  place  behind  them.  By  degrees  the  city  took 
on  its  former  aspect  to  a  certain  extent,  but  Paris  has  never 
again  been  the  Paris  of  the  Empire.  We  Republicans  really 
enjoyed  the  pageant  of  the  Empire. 

I  reestablished  my  business  in  Paris  at  No.  10,  Place  Ven- 
dome,  and  continued  to  do  business  there  under  the  firm  name 
of  Andrews  &  Co.  until  1875,  when  I  closed  my  affairs  and 
returned  to  Boston.  The  War  had  temporarily  made  business 
in  Paris  unprofitable. 

Since  that  time  my  life  in  this  country  has  had  no  incidents 
especially  worth  recording.  It  has  been  varied,  however.  I 
have  occupied  several  business  positions.  I  spent  seven  years 
in  New  York,  and  one  year  in  Norfolk,  Virginia,  erecting  a 
plant  for  creosoting  timber,  which  was  destroyed  by  fire  soon 
after  it  went  into  operation.  I  later  accepted  the  position  of 
Manager  for  Eastern  New  England  in  the  Equitable  Life 
Insurance  Society,  where  I  remained  several  years,  and  was 
then  made  President  of  the  Security  Safe  Deposit  Company, 
in  the  Equitable  Building  in  Boston,  during  five  years.  Find- 
ing life  in  that  occupation  uninteresting,  I  gave  it  up,  and  since 
then,  while  having  sufficient  interests  to  keep  me  in  touch 
with  the  business  world,  I  have  mostly  led  a  life  of  leisure, 
getting  more  out  of  life  than  would  have  been  possible  had 
I  remained  active  in  affairs.  My  wife  died  in  1893,  and  I 
have  since  made  my  home  with  my  two  daughters  on  Beacon 
Street. 

We  have  for  many  years  spent  the  summers  in  the  country 
in  hired  houses,  at  Beverly;  Milton;  Ridgefield,  Connecticut; 
and  Cornish,  New  Hampshire,  where  I  am  summering  at  pres- 
ent, in  one  of  the  most  beautiful  parts  of  New  England. 

Very  few,  I  think,  of  my  classmates  have  had  such  a  varied 
life  as  I  have,  and  perhaps  it  has  left  with  me  as  many  interest- 
ing experiences  to  think  about,  and  probably  more,  than  had 
my  life  been  wholly  spent  in  one  kind  of  profession  or  business. 
Very  truly,  Your  classmate 

EDWARD  REYNOLDS  ANDREWS. 
30 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


BOSTON,  March  20th,  1913. 

At  the  last  annual  dinner  of  the  Class  of  1853,  it  was  decided 
to  publish  the  memoranda  of  the  lives  of  those  members  who 
had  passed  away,  which  Secretary  Shaw  had  gathered  from 
the  members  themselves  and  from  other  sources,  so  that  we 
and  the  families  of  those  who  are  gone  might  know  the  story 
of  their  lives  during  the  long  period  of  some  sixty-four  years 
since  we  entered  Harvard  in  1849.  It  is  contemplated  that  we 
who  are  left  should  bring  our  records  up  to  date.  We  are  no 
longer  young,  but  most  of  us  are  still  actively  engaged  in  some 
useful  occupation.  One  of  the  pleasant  events  in  our  class  his- 
tory since  graduating  was  a  dinner  given,  October  2,  1889,  at 
Taft's  famous  tavern  at  Point  Shirley,  to  our  classmate  Eliot, 
in  celebration  of  the  twentieth  year  of  his  inauguration  as 
President  of  Harvard  College.  Twenty-seven  members  of  the 
class  were  present,  and  only  five  of  these  are  now  living.  I 
was  at  that  time  much  interested  in  photography,  and  I  took 
a  picture  of  the  other  twenty-six.  I  also  compiled  the  Class- 
Album  containing  portraits  of  most  of  the  members  of  the 
class,  taken  at  the  time  of  graduation  and  again  about  forty 
years  later.  This  Album  Crocker  generously  gave  to  each 
member  of  the  class. 

Portrait-photography  was  introduced  about  1853,  and  we 
were  the  first  class  to  make  use  of  it.  These  portraits  were 
called  crystallotypes  and  present  the  reverse  side  of  the  face. 

Since  my  return  to  this  country  to  live,  I  have  made  two 
trips  to  Europe.  In  1896  I  spent  a  few  months  travelling 
through  France  and  England,  and,  in  1904,  yielding  to  a  great 
desire  to  see  Rome  again  after  an  absence  of  fifty  years,  I 
sailed  in  November,  with  my  two  daughters,  on  the  S.S. 
"  Canopic,"  landing  at  Naples.  After  a  few  days  there,  we 
reached  Rome,  where  we  spent  the  winter,  followed  by  a  trip 
to  Southern  Italy  and  Sicily  in  the  spring.  Later  we  went  on 
to  Florence,  where  I  was  very  ill  with  pneumonia,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  we  spent  the  summer  quietly  in  the  Tyrol, 
followed  by  a  second  winter  in  Rome. 

In  the  year  1896  I  joined  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural 
Club,  which  was  founded  in  1840  by  several  business  men  of 

31 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Boston  who  were  interested  in  agriculture  and  horticulture. 
In  its  early  days  the  club  met  every  Saturday  for  a  noon- 
dinner  at  Colonel  Crocket's  stage  house  in  Bromfield  Street. 
This  was  a  hostelry  much  frequented  by  countrymen,  but  it 
disappeared  many  years  ago,  and  a  Methodist  church  now  oc- 
cupies its  site. 

The  club  is  still  active,  but  meets  only  on  the  first  Saturday 
of  each  month,  and  at  Young's  Hotel.  The  dinner  of  March 
I,  1913,  was  the  656th  since  its  birth  in  1840.  Our  classmate 
Clark  was  its  Secretary  and  induced  me  to  join,  and  through 
the  conversations  of  the  dinner-table  I  became  interested  again 
in  farming. 

After  my  return  from  Europe  in  1906  I  purchased  a  large 
farm  in  Putney,  Vermont,  and  am  devoting  my  energies  to 
carrying  it  on  as  far  as  I  can  in  the  latest  scientific  methods. 
I  have  a  fine  herd  of  Guernsey  cattle  and  a  flock  of  Horned 
Dorset  sheep.  It  is  a  dairy  farm,  and  my  aim  is  to  make 
choice  table-butter,  which  is  mainly  supplied  to  clubs  in  Boston. 
In  raising  pure-bred  animals  and  in  striving  to  make  two 
blades  of  grass  grow  where  one  grew  before,  I  am  passing 
in  the  company  of  my  daughters  a  tranquil  life.  All  this  I 
am  finding,  now  at  the  age  of  eighty-one,  a  most  interesting 
and  absorbing  occupation. 

EDWARD  REYNOLDS  ANDREWS. 

GORDON   BARTLET, 

Son  and  eldest  child  of  STEPHEN  and  MARY  GORDON 
(PLUMMER)  BARTLET,  both  originally  of  Newburyport,  was 
born  at  Eastport,  Maine,  on  February  16,  1833.  When  very 
young,  his  parents  removed  to  Charlestown,  Massachusetts, 
where  he  began  his  preparatory  education.  He  entered  the 
Boston  Latin  School  in  1846,  and  at  the  end  of  a  short 
course  of  three  years  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849. 
He  had  a  very  exceptional  faculty  for  acquiring  languages. 

On  graduating,  in  1853,  he  adopted  the  profession  of 
teacher,  which  he  followed  as  sub-master  until  the  year  1861, 
first  at  the  Lynn  High  School,  and  afterwards,  during  the 
years  1858,  1859,  and  1860,  at  the  Salem  High  School.  The 

32 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


resolutions  passed  at  his  decease  by  the  Salem  High  School 
Association,  and  the  speeches  made  on  that  occasion  by  the 
principal  of  the  school  and  others,  testified  to  the  high  regard 
in  which  he  was  held,  not  only  for  his  great  and  varied  ac- 
quirements as  a  scholar,  but  also  for  the  spirit  of  kindliness, 
forbearance,  and  Christian  manliness  which  marked  his  char- 
acter at  all  times. 

After  leaving  Salem  he  opened  a  private  school  for  young 
ladies  on  Springfield  Street,  Boston,  and  lastly,  in  1864,  en- 
gaged in  the  furniture  business  on  Merrimac  Street  and  Canal 
Street  in  Boston,  as  partner  in  the  firm  of  Allen,  Cheney  & 
Bartlet,  continuing  to  reside  at  Salem,  where  he  died  on 
December  21,  1867.  He  kept  up  his  studies,  however,  trans- 
lating much,  especially  from  the  Northern  languages.  His 
last  work,  pursued  during  his  sickness,  was  from  the  Greek, 
"  The  Antigone  of  Sophocles." 

Bartlet  married,  August  3,  1859,  Mary  E.  Andrews,  of 
Clinton,  Louisiana,  daughter  of  Thomas  Lathrop  and  Louisa 
(Tyson)  Andrews;  she  had  been  a  pupil  of  his  at  Lynn, 
and  he  left  at  his  decease  his  wife  and  three  children, 
Louisa  Tyson  (since  Wyatt),  Gordon  Plummer,  and  Jane 
Andrews. 

Bartlet  was  Senior  Warden  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Salem, 
and  the  resolutions  of  the  Wardens  and  Vestry  at  his  decease 
characterized  him  as  "a  Christian,  humble  and  devout;  a 
churchman,  clear  in  his  convictions  and  consistent  in  his 
practice;  a  prudent  counsellor;  a  scholar  of  ripe  and  varied 
attainments;  a  generous  friend;  a  large-hearted  man;  an 
officer  whose  place  we  cannot  fill;  a  man  whom  in  his  life 
we  trusted  and  esteemed,  and  one  whom,  even  in  the  unseen 
world,  we  would  fain  follow  with  respect  and  honor. " 

JOSIAH    KENDALL    BENNETT, 

Son  of  JOSIAH  KENDALL  and  LUCINDA  HALL  (NUTTING) 
BENNETT,  was  born  at  Groton,  Massachusetts,  on  February 
4,  1831.  Sickness  and  straitened  means  weighed  heavily 
on  Bennett's  early  years ;  in  his  own  language,  "  in  the  in- 
tervals of  tolerable  health  his  hand  was  given  to  labor  and 

S3 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


his  head  to  study,"  mathematics  having  a  special  attraction 
for  him.  A  violent  fever  in  1846  nearly  proved  fatal  to  him. 
It  was  not  until  1847  tnat  systematic  instruction  began,  when 
he  entered  Lawrence  Academy  at  Groton,  then  under  the 
Rev.  James  Means,  to  whom,  and  to  his  other  teachers,  he 
felt  under  great  obligations.  Fourteen  weeks  in  the  winter 
of  1848-49  were  devoted  to  teaching  a  district  school.  He 
entered  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849.  The  first  two  years 
in  college  passed  very  smoothly.  At  the  end  of  the  Sopho- 
more year  a  fancy  seized  him  to  pass  a  year  at  Yale,  where 
he  was  admitted  to  the  Junior  class  on  examination,  and 
where  he  formed  many  close  attachments.  Returning  to 
Harvard  in  accordance  with  a  previous  understanding -with 
President  Sparks,  he  there  passed  his  Senior  year.  He  gradu- 
ated with  high  rank,  having  for  his  Commencement  part  a 
dissertation  on  "  Public  Spirit  in  India." 

Immediately  on  graduating  he  became  master  of  the  Hop- 
kins Classical  School  at  Cambridge,  and  held  the  office  until 
the  school  was  merged  in  the  Cambridge  High  School  in  the 
following  year.  In  September,  1854,  he  entered  the  Har- 
vard Law  School.  After  an  interruption  in  1855  he  re- 
commenced his  studies  in  that  institution  in  September  of 
that  year  and  took  his  degree  of  LL.B.  in  1856.  In  the 
meantime  his  studies  were  not  limited  to  that  of  the  law. 
He  had  begun  writing  for  the  religious  press,  and  was  the 
author  of  an  article  in  the  "  Bibliotheca  Sacra  "  for  July,  1856, 
on  "  Aliens  in  Israel."  He  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  on 
November  22,  1856.  After  practising  law  for  about  three 
years  in  Boston,  having  an  office  with  Lyman  Mason,  Esq., 
at  20  Court  Street,  and  at  the  same  time  offices  in  Groton 
and  Groton  Junction,  he  finally  settled  at  Groton,  which  re- 
mained his  residence  up  to  the  last  two  months  of  his  life. 
Here  he  became  an  active  and  public-spirited  townsman,  keep- 
ing up  at  the  same  time  a  remarkable  amount  of  literary 
work  and  contributing  to  the  "  Congregationalist "  and  other 
papers.  It  is  said  that  he  could  read  fourteen  or  fifteen 
languages,  among  them  Sanscrit,  Norse,  and  Anglo-Saxon. 
Several  of  his  translations  from  the  German  and  other  lan- 

34 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


guages  have  been  published  and  have  met  with  a  favorable 
reception. 

On  June  27,  1863,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  Trustees  of 
the  Lawrence  Academy  at  Groton,  and  continued  a  member 
of  the  Board  until  the  time  of  his  death.  During  the  whole 
of  this  period  he  was  secretary  of  the  Board  and  an  active 
member  of  several  important  committees.  On  March  6,  1865, 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  School  Committee  of  Groton, 
and  served  in  that  capacity  for  eight  years,  and  was  the  author 
of  several  annual  reports,  extracts  from  which  were  fre- 
quently incorporated  in  the  report  of  the  State  Board  of 
Education.  For  many  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Groton 
Musical  Society.  He  was  a  communicant  of  the  Union  Con- 
gregational Church,  Superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School, 
and  Clerk  of  the  Parish.  In  1872  he  was  appointed  by  Gov- 
ernor Washburn  Judge  of  the  First  District  Court  of  Northern 
Middlesex,  then  just  established  at  Ayer  —  a  position  which 
he  held  until  his  death,  but  his  tenure  of  office  was  not  des- 
tined to  be  of  long  duration.  The  ill-health  from  which  he 
had  suffered  from  his  earliest  youth  developed  into  consump- 
tion, and  for  the  last  year  of  his  life  he  could  speak  only  in 
a  whisper.  He  continued,  however,  to  perform  his  judicial 
duties  until  the  week  preceding  his  death.  By  the  advice 
of  his  physician  he  had  gone  to  reside  at  Ayer  two  months 
before  that  event,  which  occurred  on  January  23,  1874. 

Bennett  was  married,  on  June  29,  1865,  to  Abby  Ann, 
daughter  of  Reuben  Lewis  sand  Lucinda  (Hill)  Torrey,  of 
Groton.  His  widow,  a  son,  James  Torrey,  born  May  30, 
1871,  and  a  daughter,  Beatrice  Ethel,  born  September  22, 
1873,  survived  him. 

CHARLES  FREDERIC  BLAKE, 

Son  of  WILLIAM  and  MARGARET  ELIZABETH  (KUPFER) 
BLAKE,  was  born  at  Boston,  February  16,  1834.  He  was  pre- 
pared for  college  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  entering  in 
1844,  and  became  a  member  of  the  Freshman  class  at  Har- 
vard in  1849.  On  leaving  college  he  went  abroad  with  a 
view  of  continuing  his  academic  studies,  and  began  a  course 

35 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


of  philosophy  at  Heidelberg,  but  soon  changed  to  the  study 
of  law,  of  which  Mittermaier  was  then  the  distinguished 
professor.  He  was  also  for  some  time  at  Berlin,  where  he 
enjoyed  the  friendship  of  the  eminent  jurist  Gneist,  and  per- 
fected himself  in  the  German  language.  He  received  his 
degree  of  J.U.D.  at  Heidelberg  in  1855,  returned  to  the 
United  States,  and,  on  March  6,  1856,  entered  the  Harvard 
Law  School.  He  took  his  degree  of  LL.B.  at  Commence- 
ment, 1857,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  Bar  at  Boston 
on  the  1 5th  of  the  following  September.  From  1858  to  1864 
he  lived  in  Boston,  engaged  in  the  practice  of  the  law.  Hav- 
ing married  the  daughter  of  the  distinguished  General  John 
A.  Dix  of  New  York,  he  took  up  his  residence  in  that  city, 
and  entered  on  a  successful  practice  as  a  patent  lawyer.  In 
1869  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Charles  M.  Keller  which 
lasted  till  the  latter's  death  in  October,  1874,  when  he  took 
as  a  junior  partner  Edward  G.  Thompson,  who  had  been 
previously  employed  in  the  office  of  Keller  &  Blake. 

Blake  enjoyed  a  very  high  professional  reputation,  and 
eulogistic  tributes  were  paid  to  his  memory.  A  resolution 
of  the  Bar  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York  is  as  follows :  "  Resolved,  that  in  his 
special  professional  practice  he  had  few  equals  and  no  supe- 
riors, and  his  high  intellectual  ability,  his  kind  and  courteous 
manner,  his  scholarly  attainments  and  his  generous  nature 
were  worthy  of  the  greatest  admiration/*  Ex- Judge  Ship- 
man  described  him  as  an  able,  intelligent,  and  courteous  ad- 
vocate and  lawyer,  strictly  devoted  to  the  interests  of  his 
client  and  always  dealing  with  the  court  with  perfect  frank- 
ness and  integrity,  and  with  his  case  in  a  manner  which 
would  enable  the  court  to  understand  it  and  to  come  to  a 
just  and  wise  conclusion.  Judge  Blatchford  said :  "  It  is  a 
grave  mistake  to  suppose  that  to  make  a  satisfactory  advo- 
cate in  patent  causes  requires  that  a  person  should  be  nothing 
but  a  specialist  on  Patent  Law.  A  general  knowledge  of  the 
principles  of  law  and  the  proper  mode  of  weighing  facts, 
obtained  from  a  thorough  legal  education,  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  the  practice  of  the  Patent  Law,  as  it  is  to  any  other 

36 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


branch  of  the  law,  and  when  to  this  qualification  is  added 
an  aptitude  for  mechanical  questions  and  for  the  law  of 
patents  and  a  genial  'disposition  and  a  courteous  bearing 
toward  his  brethren  at  the  bar  and  toward  the  court,  and 
a  high  tone  of  character  —  all  of  which  qualities  Mr.  Blake 
possessed  in  an  eminent  degree  —  you  have,  according  to  my 
observation  and  from  my  standpoint  of  view,  a  model  lawyer 
in  patent  cases,  a  lawyer  always  serviceable  to  his  clients  and 
always  serviceable  to  the  court." 

Blake's  death  was  never  thoroughly  accounted  for.  His 
body  was  found  floating  in  the  North  River,  near  the  end  of 
West  4oth  Street,  in  the  forenoon  of  Monday,  February  21, 
1 88 1.  He  had  left  his  partner's  house  at  about  half-past 
eleven  on  the  previous  evening,  and  had  but  a  short  distance 
to  go  to  reach  his  own.  There  were  no  indications  of  rob- 
bery or  violence  of  any  kind.  His  watch  and  money  were 
intact.  No  motive  for  suicide  could  be  suspected.  The  most 
plausible  explanation  of  the  case  is  to  be  found  in  his  habit 
of  taking  long  walks,  in  pursuance  of  a  system  of  exercise 
prescribed  in  order  to  reduce  his  flesh.  This  sometimes  led 
him  to  out-of-the-way  places,  and,  amongst  others,  according 
to  the  account  of  a  friend,  he  had  found  the  river  at  night, 
with  its  lights,  interesting.  It  seems  probable  that  he  acci- 
dentally fell  in,  early  on  the  morning  of  the  2ist,  as  his 
watch  had  stopped  at  1.45. 

Blake  was  married,  on  April  n,  1860,  at  Trinity  Chapel, 
New  York,  to  Elizabeth  Morgan,  daughter  of  General  John 
Adams  and  Catherine  (Morgan)  Dix.  He  left  a  widow,  who 
died  in  1899,  and  four  children, — 

Catherine  Morgan,  born  February  19,  1861 ;  unmarried 
January,  1903,  and  living  in  England. 

Margaret  Kupfer,  born  August  19,  1862;  married  an  Eng- 
lishman, Lascelles  Hoyle,  living  near  Manchester. 

Morgan  Dix,  born  January  29,  1870;  married  a  Canadian; 
practising  medicine  in  Kent. 

Elizabeth  Morgan,  born  January  13,  1872;  unmarried, 
January,  1903. 

37 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


GEORGE    HENRY    BLANCHARD, 

Son  of  JOHN  A.  and  SARAH  (HARDING)  BLANCHARD,  was 
born  at  Boston,  July  n,  1833;  entered  the  Boston  Latin 
School  in  1844,  where  he  particularly  distinguished  himself 
by  his  declamation,  and  was  admitted  to  Harvard  in  1849  as 
Freshman.  His  part  at  Commencement  was  a  dissertation, 
"  The  Autobiography  of  Benvenuto  Cellini."  In  his  Sopho- 
more year  he  took  the  First  Boylston  Prize  in  declamation. 

Soon  after  leaving  college  he  spent  about  a  year  in  India, 
and  on  returning  to  Boston  engaged  in  the  Calcutta  business, 
in  which  he  showed  ability  and  sound  judgment.  He  joined 
the  Independent  Corps  of  Cadets,  becoming  a  valuable  mem- 
ber, and  as  Lieutenant  did  useful  work  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
War  in  drilling  Harvard  men  at  the  Cambridge  Arsenal.  He 
was  offered  the  commission  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  one  of 
the  Massachusetts  regiments,  which  a  severe  hemorrhage 
compelled  him  to  refuse.  He  was  never  well  afterwards,  and 
went  to  Europe  for  his  health  in  the  summer  of  1863.  He 
spent  the  winter  of  1863-64  at  Rome,  and  was  in  Paris  in  the 
following  summer,  where  his  classmate  Clark  saw  him.  Al- 
though far  gone  in  consumption,  he  had  bright  views- of  his 
future,  but  returned  to  Boston  in  October,  and  died  unmar- 
ried on  the  24th  of  that  month. 

CHARLES    EDWARD    BRIGGS, 

Son  of  ROBERT  and  CAROLINE  (MORTON)  BRIGGS,  was 
born  at  Boston,  on  April  6,  1833.  His  early  years  were 
passed  in  Weston,  Massachusetts.  On  his  father's  side  he 
was  descended  from  Walter  Briggs,  who  in  1643  was  °f 
Briggs  Harbor,  Scituate,  and  on  his  mother's  side  from  the 
Brewsters  and  from  George  Morton,  a  member,  in  1612,  of 
Robinson's  congregation  at  Leyden,  who  came  to  Plymouth 
in  1623  in  the  "  Ann." 

His  early  education  was  in  the  grammar  schools  of  Boston, 
and  he  prepared  for  college  at  the  Boston  Latin  School, 
entering  Harvard  in  1849.  He  had  a  great  love  of  books, 
much  refinement  of  taste,  and  a  serious  disposition,  and  his 
Commencement  part,  a  disquisition,  "  Thomas-a-Kempis," 

38 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


seemed  extremely  well  suited  to  him.  On  leaving  college  he 
immediately  began  the  study  of  medicine  at  the  Harvard 
Medical  School,  and  took  his  degree  of  M.D.  in  1856.  In  the 
summer  of  that  year  he  made  :a  voyage  to  England  as  Sur- 
geon of  the  ship  "  Jeremiah  Thompson "  belonging  to  the 
Trains  of  Boston,  and  had  an  opportunity  of  visiting  Lon- 
don, which  he  was  well  prepared  to  enjoy.  Continuing  the 
practice  of  medicine  in  Boston  under  discouraging  circum- 
stances, he  was  not  sorry  at  the  end  of  the  year  1857  to  ta^e 
the  position  of  Surgeon  on  the  brig  "  Newsboy,"  sailing  from 
Norfolk  to  the  Azores,  in  the  hope  that  change  of  scene  and 
occupation  would  give  him  fresh  energy  to  encounter  the 
difficulties  of  a  young  practitioner.  After  some  delay  at 
Norfolk,  he  sailed  on  January  13,  and  landed  at  Fayal,  Feb- 
ruary i,  1858.  The  return  voyage  began  on  the  6th,  but  a 
severe  storm  disabled  the  ship,  a  sailor's  leg  was  broken,  and 
the  captain  put  back  to  Fayal,  thereby  giving  Briggs  an  op- 
portunity to  see  more  of  the  island  and  its  society,  as  well 
as  to  render  some  professional  services  to  which  he  was 
called.  Sailing  again  on  February  23,  he  reached  Norfolk 
on  March  21  after  a  rough  passage. 

In  the  year  1859  the  death  of  his  father  broke  up  the 
family  home  at  Boston  and  ended  his  practice  there.  From 
now  until  the  second  year  of  the  Civil  War  he  was  engaged 
in  teaching  Latin  and  Greek,  first  at  Burlington  College,  New 
Jersey,  and  afterwards  at  Mr.  Churchill's  Military  Academy 
at  Sing  Sing,  New  York.  This  enforced  change  in  his  life's 
plan  was  not  entirely  satisfactory  nor  wholly  irksome,  but 
at  the  end  of  the  school  year  of  1861-62  he  decided  to  offer 
his  services  to  the  cause  of  the  Union,  and  on  August  12, 
1862,  was  commissioned  Assistant  Surgeon  in  the  24th  Regi- 
ment of  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  of  which  Thomas  G. 
Stevenson  was  Colonel,  the  regiment  being  then  in  camp  at 
New  Berne,  North  Carolina,  where  he  arrived  on  August  28. 
Hospital  work  kept  him  very  busy,  but  nothing  eventful  hap- 
pened until  December,  when  an  expedition  the  object  of  which 
was  the  interruption  of  railroad  connection  at  Goldsboro,  at 
the  crossing  of  two  roads  from  Savannah  northward  and 

39 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


from  Wilmington  westward,  was  organized  by  Major-Gen- 
eral John  G.  Foster,  commanding  the  Department  of  North 
Carolina. 

Dr.  Briggs  was  detailed,  at  the  last  moment  before  start- 
ing, to  the  27th  Massachusetts,  forming  part  of  Colonel 
Horace  C.  Lee's  rear  brigade.  The  first  camp,  which  was 
reached  late  at  night,  presented  a  very  striking  sight,  with  its 
many  fires  and  swarming  thousands  of  men.  Pitch-pine  trees 
were  set  on  fire  rfrom  root  to  summit,  making  pillars  of  flame. 
As  the  force  advanced,  they  caught  up  with  the  wounded  of  the 
regiments  that  had  preceded  them.  A  barnlike  meeting-house, 
near  which  the  fight  at  Kinston  had  taken  place,  had  been 
made  a  depot  for  the  wounded,  who  lay  on  the  floor  in  their 
agonies,  and  presented  perhaps  the  most  shocking  sight  of 
the  expedition.  The  2^th  Regiment  was  not  fairly  engaged 
until  the  I7th  at  Goldsboro,  where  Briggs  was  initiated  into 
field  duties  and  performed  an  operation  while  lying  on  the 
ground  in  the  midst  of  a  battery  in  action.  The  position  of 
Goldsboro  was  too  favorable  for  the  massing  of  the  enemy 
for  defence  when  the  point  of  attack  became  known  to  them, 
and  after  twisting  the  rails  for  a  short  distance  it  was  judged 
best  to  retreat.  In  the  next  month,  January,  1863,  the  regi- 
ment was  ordered  to  South  Carolina,  and  went  into  camp  at 
St.  Helena  Island.  Being  left  entirely  unmolested  by  the 
Confederates  in  this  position,  about  six  weeks  were  spent 
quietly  here,  with  opportunities  of  excursions  to  Beaufort  and 
elsewhere,  and  of  studying  the  negro  question  at  first  hand. 
At  the  end  of  March  the  order  came  to  move  northward  in 
aid  of  the  operations  before  Charleston,  and  the  regiment  was 
stationed  on  Seabrook  Island  near  the  north  shore  of  Edisto 
Inlet  until  the  July  following,  when  the  command,  excepting 
the  invalids  and  four  companies  of  the  24th  who  were  left 
in  charge  of  Dr.  Briggs,  was  ordered  to  James  Island  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  Charleston.  The  subsequent  evacuation 
of  Seabrook  Island,  the  getting  off  of  more  than  one  hun- 
dred patients  in  expectation  of  immediate  attack  during  a 
cannonade,  and  the  sole  charge  on  Morris  Island  of  the 
regiment  with  a  sick-list  of  between  two  and  three  hundred, 

40 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


gave  the  final  blow  to  Dr.  Briggs's  already  failing  health,  and 
resulted  in  a  severe  attack  of  dysentery  in  August.  He  was 
taken  to  the  hospital  at  Beaufort,  South  Carolina,  and,  while 
there,  was  cheered  by  the  news  of  the  capture  of  Forts 
Wagner  and  Gregg.  Towards  the  end  of  September  he  re- 
turned to  his  regiment  on  Morris  Island,  and  found  that  the 
sick-list  of  the  24th  had  become  so  fearfully  large  as  to  call 
for  immediate  removal  to  St.  Augustine,  Florida.  Early  in 
October  he  was  at  St.  Augustine,  and  for  a  time  was  Post 
Surgeon  and  on  duty  at  Fort  Marion,  the  old  castle  of  San 
Marco,  and  a  great  improvement  in  the  health  of  the  men 
took  place.  The  regiment  spent  the  winter  at  St.  Augustine 
and  at  Jacksonville.  In  the  meantime  Briggs  was  commis- 
sioned Surgeon  of  the  54th  Massachusetts  negro  regiment 
(Colonel  Shaw's),  then  commanded  by  Colonel  Hallowell,  his 
commission  being  dated  November  24,  1863,  but  he  was  not 
mustered  out  of  the  24th  until  April  26,  1864.  In  May  he 
began  service  as  Surgeon  of  the  54th  on  Morris  Island.  It  was 
a  period  of  comparative  inactivity,  except  for  an  unsuccessful 
attack  on  the  enemy's  lines  on  James  Island  under  General 
Schimmelpfennig,  of  whom  Briggs  gave  his  impressions  as 
follows :  "  He  suffers  from  every  known  disease  and  lives  on 
kimmel.  In  the  late  James  Island  expedition  I  had  occasion 
to  carry  some  document  to  him.  He  sat  in  a  large  chair  on 
the  raised  floor  of  a  house  whose  walls  had  been  pulled  down, 
leaving  the  roof  supported  by  the  framework.  He  has  a  crook 
in  his  shoulders,  and  as  he  sat  there,  a  puny  man,  with  a 
pale  absorbed  face,  he  looked  strangely  like  a  Richard  III. 
His  voice  is  cracked,  and  he  frequently  says  '  damnation '  and 
'  hell '  as  if  he  were  a  creature  of  dramatic  art."  In  Novem- 
ber, 1864,  Briggs  was  one  of  the  operating  surgeons  at  Bolan's 
Church,  when  the  wounded  numbered  about  six  hundred  men. 
At  the  end  of  November  Briggs  was  with  the  eight  com- 
panies of  the  54th  that  were  sent  to  Hilton  Head  to  form 
part  of  the  "  Coast  Division,"  consisting  of  five  thousand 
men  under  General  Hatch,  with  orders  to  cooperate  with 
General  Sherman  in  his  march  to  the  sea.  On  the  2Qth  they 
started  up  the  Broad  River,  and  on  the  3Oth  were  repulsed 

41 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


at  a  point  on  the  Gainesville  Road,  in  an  engagement  known 
as  the  Battle  of  Honey  Hill,  by  a  much  smaller  force  strongly 
intrenched.  Briggs  had  a  day  of  the  severest  work  as  field 
surgeon  in  a  hospital  installed  in  Eutaw  Church.  A  retreat 
was  made  to  the  landing,  but  on  December  i  lines  were  again 
advanced,  and  finally,  on  January  15,  1865,  the  regiment  met 
the  1 7th  Corps  of  Sherman's  army  at  Pocotaligo.  The  troops 
to  which  Briggs  was  attached  remained  near  Pocotaligo  until 
Charleston  was  evacuated  by  Hardee,  and  then  on  February 
27  proceeded  to  occupy  that  city.  The  object  of  two  years' 
struggle  by  sea  and  by  land  for  the  possession  of  this  impor- 
tant place  was  at  last  secured,  and  garrison  life,  with  a  roof 
over  one's  head  —  free  communication  with  the  North,  bring- 
ing letters,  friends,  and  abundant  supplies  —  made  it  a  de- 
lightful spot.  Two  weeks  at  Savannah  were  full  of  novelty 
and  interest. 

"  Potter's  Raid,"  an  expedition  organized  in  April,  1865, 
for  the  destruction  of  railroads,  rolling  stock,  and  cotton  in 
South  Carolina,  was  the  last  in  which  the  54th  was  engaged. 
Starting  from  Georgetown,  it  lasted  twenty-one  days,  and 
was  entirely  successful,  penetrating  the  interior  as  far  as 
Camden.  A  severe  skirmish  at  Boykin's  Mills  near  that  place 
is  the  last  battle  inscribed  in  Briggs' s  military  record.  Just 
as  the  regiment  was  marching  past  the  plantation  of  General 
Wade  Hampton,  April  19,  1865,  news  was  received  of  the 
surrender  of  Lee.  On  the  regiment's  return  to  Charleston 
Briggs  was  on  duty  at  the  citadel,  and  on  August  20,  1865, 
was  mustered  out. 

Major  Emilio's  reminiscences  of  Dr.  Briggs  of  the  54th 
Massachusetts,  of  which  both  were  officers,  and  whose  chron- 
icler the  Major  became,  remained  to  the  date  of  this  writing 
"  most  pleasant  in  every  way."  Major  Emilio  was  the  junior- 
commissioned  Captain  of  that  gallant  regiment,  and  so  com- 
plete was  its  annihilation  at  the  bloody  assault  upon  Fort 
Wagner  that  the  then  Captain  Emilio  was  left  the  ranking 
officer  of  the  remnant  that  survived,  forced  to  assume  com- 
mand and  restore  order.  He  says  of  Dr.  Briggs :  "  He  came 
to  us  after  some  two  years'  experience  as  Assistant  Surgeon 

42 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


of  the  24th  Massachusetts  infantry,  and  served  as  Surgeon  of 
the  54th  Massachusetts  until  its  muster-out,  August  20,  1865. 
He  was  devoted  to  the  sick  in  hospitals,  and  obtained  high 
rank  as  a  Surgeon  for  operations  in  camp  and  on  the  field. 
...  In  the  '8os,  the  Officers'  Association  of  the  54th  Regi- 
ment requested  from  the  surviving  officers  sketches  of  their 
lives.  The  original  writings  were  unfortunately  destroyed  in 
the  first  Chelsea  fire,  together  with  the  books  and  records  of 
the  Association.  These  sketches  had  before  passed  through 
my  hands  as  the  historian  of  the  corps.  From  them  I  ex- 
tracted the  main  facts,  and  entered  such  in  a  book  under  the 
names  of  the  several  officers.  I  gladly  give  you  what  there 
is  under  Dr.  Briggs's  name."  Major  Emilio  then  recalls  de- 
tails which  have  contributed  much  to  this  memorial  sketch. 

After  considering  the  possibilities  of  other  Western  cities 
for  building  up  a  practice,  Briggs  settled  at  St.  Louis  in 
1866,  and  met  with  a  favorable  reception. 

On  June  24,  1869,  he  was  married  to  Rebekah,  daughter 
of  Francis  and  Ann  (Mother well)  Whittaker,  who  originally 
were  of  Dublin,  Ireland. 

The  remainder  of  Dr.  Briggs's  life  was  spent  in  profes- 
sional activity,  relieved  by  summer  vacations  at  Evequeton- 
sing,  Little  Traverse  Bay,  Lake  Michigan,  and  by  occasional 
visits  to  the  East.  Once  again  only  he  bore  arms,  in  the 
St.  Louis  strike  riots.  He  contributed  to  medical  periodicals; 
delivered  lectures  on  physiology  and  diseases  of  children,  as 
professor  at  the  St.  Louis  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons; was  Vice-President  of  the  St.  Louis  Medical  Society; 
delegate  to  the  International  Medical  Congress  at  Philadel- 
phia, in  1876;  Professor  of  Diseases  of  Children  in  the  Post- 
Graduate  School  of  Medicine  of  St.  Louis ;  on  continued  ser- 
vice at  the  House  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  and  delegate  to 
various  national  and  diocesan  Episcopal  conventions.  His 
health  had  given  cause  for  alarm  for  some  time,  when  he 
became  a  patient  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  at 
Boston,  and,  after  a  severe  surgical  operation,  he  died  there 
on  June  17,  1894.  He  left  a  widow  and  four  children, — 
Caroline  Morton,  born  April  4,  1870  (married  to  John  Cod- 

43 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


man,  H.  U.  '85)  ;  Walter  Motherwell,  born  December  9,  1871, 
H.  U.  '95;  Paul  Robert,  born  February  16,  1873;  Charles 
Harold,  born  November  7,  1874. 

Rebekah,  widow  of  Dr.  Charles  E.  Briggs,  died  at  Santa 
Barbara,  California,  in  her  sixty-sixth  year,  November  23, 
1912. 

JOSEPH    MANSFIELD    BROWN, 

Son  of  JOSEPH  MANSFIELD  and  MARGARET  STACKPOLE 
(WELCH)  BROWN,  was  born  in  Boston,  August  17,  1832,  and 
was  graduated  at  the  Public  Latin  School  in  1849,  and  from 
Harvard  University  in  1853. 

He  organized  at  Harvard,  in  his  Junior  year,  with  Dr.  James 
M.  Whitton,  of  Yale  '53,  the  first  intercollegiate  contest  in 
this  country  —  the  first  boat-race  between  Harvard  and  Yale, 
which  was  rowed  on  Lake  Winnipesaukee,  New  Hampshire, 
August  3,  1852.  The  victorious  Harvard  crew  was  composed 
of  Curtis,  T.  J.,  Dwight,  Willard,  all  of  '52;  Paine,  C.  J., 
Hurd,  Cunningham,  Livermore,  Miles,  and  Brown,  J.  M., 
Captain,  all  of  '53.  Six  of  the  crew  served  in  the  Union  Army 
during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  Of  the  nine  three  —  Brown, 
Dwight,  and  Paine  —  are  still  living ;  one  was  killed  at  Freder- 
icksburg;  one  died  from  the  result  of  wounds  received  at  the 
Wilderness. 

The  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  event  was  commemorated 
in  1902  by  a  dinner  at  the  University  Club  of  New  York. 
Twelve  of  the  sixteen  survivors  of  the  three  crews  taking 
part  in  the  contest  at  Lake  Winnipesaukee  were  present,  and, 
in  addition,  as  invited  guests,  the  two  stroke-oarsmen  repre- 
senting the  *  Varsity  crews  of  1902.  President  Hadley,  in 
his  letter  "  of  greeting  on  behalf  of  Yale  University,  to  those 
who  are  celebrating  the  semi-centennial  of  American  inter- 
collegiate athletics/'  says :  "  I  shall  not  try  to  moralize  on 
the  varied  results,  in  our  colleges  and  out  of  them,  which 
have  sprung  from  the  movement  of  which  the  crews  of  1852 
were  the  pioneers.  Let  me  rather  send  words  of  personal 
congratulation  to  those  pioneers  themselves,  that  they  are 
able,  after  the  lapse  of  so  many  years,  to  gather  together  and 

44 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


renew  a  friendship  between  Universities  and  their  sons,  which 
has  always  been  characteristic  of  our  oldest  institutions  of 
learning,  and  which  I  trust  will  grow  stronger  and  stronger 
as  each  half -century  goes  on." 

After  graduation,  Brown  settled  at  Detroit,  and  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  lumber,  with  Samuel  Fitts  &  Co.,  who 
had  mills  at  that  place.  Upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  War 
of  the  Rebellion,  he  was  appointed  a  Lieutenant  in  the  1st 
U.  S.  (Michigan)  Lancers,  and  served  in  Kentucky.  In  1862 
he  was  commissioned  by  Governor  Andrew  a  First  Lieutenant 
in  the  famous  2d  Massachusetts  Cavalry,  commanded  by 
General  Charles  Russell  Lowell  (H.  U.  '54),  the  regiment 
being  officered  largely  by  graduates  of  Harvard.  He  served 
during  the  War  in  the  grades  of  First  Lieutenant,  Captain, 
and  Major,  and  was  brevetted  Lieutenant-Colonel.  He  re- 
mained in  the  military  service  until  July  i,  1872. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  War,  Brown  was  employed  as 
Assistant  Quartermaster  General  on  the  staff  of  General  O.  O. 
Howard  at  Washington,  D.  C,  while  the  General  was  organ- 
izing the  Freedman's  Bureau.  Both  before  and  after  the 
installing  of  that  new  agency  for  reaching  the  negroes,  Brown 
had  almost  exclusive  charge  of  the  colored  population  of 
Washington,  Arlington,  and  the  District  of  Columbia.  This 
function  he  discharged  to  great  acceptance.  It  involved,  be- 
sides his  close  relations  with  the  negroes  as  their  disbursing 
officer,  and  the  investigating  of  claims  for  bounty  brought 
by  colored  soldiers  and  sailors,  an  infinite  amount  of  labor 
in  following  up  demands  against  the  government  made  by 
residents  of  the  South,  on  account  of  alleged  depredations, 
and  supplies  claimed  to  have  been  furnished,  and  exorbitant 
bills  rendered  for  repairs  really  made  on  hospitals  and 
barracks. 

Brown  was  recommended  by  Governor  Andrew  for,  and 
received  an  appointment  in  the  regular  army,  in  the  8th 
Regiment  of  Cavalry,  organized  in  1866,  but  this  he  declined. 
He  was  married,  February  13,  1866,  to  Mary  Virginia  Roy- 
ston.  He  has  had  three  children:  two  died  in  infancy;  the 
third,  a  son,  died  at  the  age  of  fourteen.  He  has  resided, 

45 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


since  1872,  except  for  short  periods  in  New  York  and  Detroit, 
in  Washington,  D.  C. 

ALBERT    GALLATIN    BROWNE, 

The  youngest  member  of  the  Class  of  '53,  son  of  ALBERT 
G.  and  SARAH  SMITH  (Cox)  BROWNE,  was  born  at  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  February  14,  1835.  His  mother  was  a 
sister  of  the  esteemed  physician  of  Essex  County,  Dr. 
Benjamin  Cox  (H.  U.  '26).  A  grandfather  of  his  father 
was  Italian. 

He  was  fitted  for  college  at  the  Latin  Grammar  School  in 
Salem,  of  which  the  eminent  teacher,  Oliver  Carlton,  was 
then  master.  On  completing  his  course  there  in  1848,  at  the 
age  of  thirteen,  he  was  considered  by  his  father  to  be  too 
young  for  the  University,  and  his  studies  were  continued 
under  Rufus  Putnam,  one  of  his  former  teachers,  during 
the  following  year,  at  the  end  of  which  he  entered  Harvard 
as  Freshman. 

His  college  course  was  not  wholly  smooth  and  uninter- 
rupted, but  it  ended  with  distinction,  the  part  given  him  at 
Commencement  being  an  English  poem  on  Lady  Arbella  John- 
son. He  contributed  the  conventional  ode  for  the  Gradua- 
tion Supper,  and,  later,  charming  lines  for  a  dinner  given  by 
Clark  to  Eliot  at  Taft's,  in  October,  1889. 

He  entered  the  Dane  Law  School  on  September  2,  1853, 
and  it  was  during  his  second  term  in  that  institution  that 
the  memorable  affair  of  the  arrest  and  attempted  rescue  of 
the  fugitive  slave,  Anthony  Burns,  occurred.  He  inherited 
from  his  father,  an  earnest  abolitionist,  ardent  antislavery 
sentiments,  which,  with  his  naturally  combative  temperament 
and  the  enthusiasm  of  youth,  combined  to  make  him  an  ac- 
tive belligerent.  He  was  arrested  on  the  evening  of  the 
attack  on  the  Court  House,  May  26,  1854,  during  which  an 
employee  of  the  U.  S.  Marshal  was  shot.  With  others,  he  was 
brought  before  the  Police  Court  on  the  charge  of  murder, 
and  committed  to  the  Suffolk  jail,  where  the  tedium  of  con- 
finement was  alleviated  by  the  mass  of  flowers  which  made 
his  cell  to  "  blossom  as  the  rose,"  but,  the  complaint  being 

46 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


reduced  to  one  of  riot,  he  was  admitted  to  bail  on  June  7. 
The  Grand  Jury  found  no  indictment. 

After  leaving  the  Law  School  in  1854,  and  feeling  the 
desire  for  a  more  complete  academic  education,  he  went  to 
Europe  and  studied  at  Heidelberg,  where  he  took  his  degree 
of  Ph.D.  in  1855.  D wight  was  there  as  a  traveller  and  Blake 
as  a  student.  Returning,  he  resumed  his  law  studies  in  the 
office  of  John  A.  Andrew,  at  the  same  time  doing  editorial 
work  with  Samuel  Bowles  on  the  "  Boston  Atlas."  On  De- 
cember 8,  1856,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar,  and  became 
associated  with  Mr.  Andrew  in  his  law  practice  at  19  Court 
Street,  Boston. 

In  1857  the  Mormon  Territory  of  Utah  was  considered 
to  be  in  a  state  of  open  insurrection  against  the  authority  of 
the  United  States.  A  body  of  United  States  troops  was  sent 
by  President  Buchanan,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Al- 
bert Sidney  Johnston,  to  reduce  it  to  order.  Browne,  whose 
inclinations  were  divided  between  law  and  journalism,  now 
turned  his  attention  to  the  latter,  and  accompanied  the  ex- 
pedition as  correspondent  of  the  "  New  York  Tribune."  The 
army  suffered  severely  from  the  rigors  of  the  season  and 
from  the  failure  of  supplies,  and  a  small  party,  of  which 
Browne  was  one,  was  sent  in  midwinter  across  the  Rocky 
Mountains  with  despatches  for  General  Scott.  "  And  there 
was  not  a  day  when  any  stronger  barrier  than  the  lives  of 
a  few  half -starved  mules  interposed  between  them  and 
famine."  He  has  left  a  record  of  his  impressions  of  the 
country  and  the  people  in  articles  which  appeared  in  the 
"  Atlantic  Monthly  "  in  1859.  His  remarks  on  the  relations 
of  the  general  government  to  that  of  territories  show  a  polit- 
ical sagacity  quite  precocious. 

In  1859  and  I^^°  we  ^d  him  in  Washington,  engaged  in 
law  business  in  some  way  connected  with  the  British  Lega- 
tion, and  also  employed  as  a  correspondent  of  the  "  Boston 
Daily  Advertiser."  In  1860  he  appeared  in  the  United  States 
District  Court  as  junior  counsel  to  Mr.  Andrew  in  the,  for 
him,  somewhat  singular  attempt  to  save  a  slave-ship  from 
condemnation.  The  career  of  the  yacht  "  Wanderer  "  had 

47 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


been  a  romantic  one.  Built  on  Long  Island,  she  had  acquired 
an  extensive  reputation  for  her  model  and  her  sailing  quali- 
ties, and  had  already  brought  home  to  her  Southern  owner 
a  cargo  of  negroes  from  Africa.  In  the  course  of  the  second 
voyage,  and,  in  the  absence  of  the  master,  she  was  seized 
by  the  crew,  brought  into  Boston,  surrendered  to  the  United 
States  authorities,  and  condemned  —  a  result  to  which  her 
defenders,  having  done  what  they  could  to  prevent  it,  were 
no  doubt  resigned. 

On  the  opening  of  Governor  Andrew's  administration  it 
became  evident  that  there  was  necessity  for  assistance  of  a 
confidential  nature  in  the  Executive  Department.  Adjutant- 
General  Schouler,  in  his  account  of  "  Massachusetts  in  the 
Rebellion,"  records  as  follows  the  value  of  Colonel  Browne's 
services  in  this  capacity,  after  describing  the  delicacy  of  a 
confidential  and  important  mission  suggested  to  Governor 
Andrew  by  Charles  Francis  Adams,  and  upon  which  the  Gov- 
ernor, before  he  slept  on  his  inauguration  night,  had  sent 
Browne  as  a  messenger  to  the  Governors  of  New  Hampshire 
and  Maine,  urging  them  to  mobilize  their  troops  without 
delay.  General  Schouler's  acknowledgment  is  in  these  words : 

"  One  of  the  suggestions  of  Mr.  Adams  was,  that  there 
should  be  public  demonstrations  of  loyalty  throughout  New 
England,  and  it  was  proposed  by  him  to  have  salutes  fired 
in  each  of  the  six  States  on  the  8th  of  January  —  the  an- 
niversary of  General  Jackson's  victory  at  New  Orleans. 
Colonel  Wardrop,  of  New  Bedford  —  of  the  Third  Regiment 
of  Massachusetts  Volunteer  Militia  —  was  sent  to  Governor 
Fairbanks,  of  Vermont;  and  other  messengers  were  sent  to 
Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  Hampshire,  and  Maine,  for 
this  purpose.  Among  these  messengers  was  the  gentleman 
who  afterwards  became  Governor  Andrew's  private  military 
secretary  —  Colonel  Albert  G.  Browne,  of  Salem  —  and  who 
served  him  during  the  entire  war;  and  who,  for  ability  as 
a  ready  writer,  truthfulness,  sturdy  independence,  reticence, 
and  undoubted  patriotism,  deserved  as  he  received  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  the  Governor,  of  the  entire  Staff,  and  of 
gentlemen  holding  confidential  and  important  relations  with 

48 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


His  Excellency.  Colonel  Browne's  mission  was  to  confer 
with  Governor  Goodwin,  of  New  Hampshire,  and  Governor 
Washburn,  of  Maine.  Besides  the  mere  duty  of  organizing 
public  demonstrations,  he  was  intrusted,  as  to  the  Governor 
of  Maine,  with  a  mission  of  a  far  more  important  character. 
Maine  and  Massachusetts,  being  subject  to  a  common  State 
Government  until  1820,  sustained  peculiar  relations  to  each 
other,  through  similarity  of  legislation,  of  institutions,  and, 
in  later  years,  of  political  sentiment.  Colonel  Browne  was 
entrusted  with  the  whole  of  the  before-mentioned  private 
correspondence  of  Governor  Andrew  with  Mr.  Adams,  and 
was  directed  to  lay  it,  confidentially,  before  Governor  Wash- 
burn;  to  advise  him  that,  in  Governor  Andrew's  judgment, 
Civil  War  was  the  inevitable  result  of  the  events  going  on 
at  Washington  and  in  the  South;  that  the  safety  of  Wash- 
ington was  already  threatened;  that  the  policy  of  the  Execu- 
tive Government  of  Massachusetts,  under  the  new  adminis- 
tration, would  be  to  put  its  active  militia  into  readiness  at 
once  for  the  impending  crisis,  and  to  persuade  the  Legisla- 
ture, if  possible,  to  call  part  of  the  dormant  militia  into  ac- 
tivity; and  that  Governor  Andrew  wished  to  urge  Governor 
Washburn  to  adopt  the  same  policy  for  Maine." 

The  resolve  creating  the  office  of  "  Private  Secretary  to  the 
Governor"  was  approved  January  18,  1861,  and  the  next  day 
Browne  was  appointed  to  fill  it.  Subsequently  Browne  was 
appointed  "  Military  Secretary "  under  a  Commission  dated 
May  27,  1 86 1,  and  this  position  —  one  of  great  responsibility 
and  corresponding  labor  —  he  held  until  July  I,  1865.  This 
office  gave  him  the  title  of  "  Colonel/'  by  which  he  was  some- 
times called,  but  which  his  modesty  made  distasteful  to  him. 
At  the  State  House  he  was  remembered  as  an  indefatigable 
worker.  In  the  first  year  of  his  secretaryship  he,  with  Colonel 
John  Reed  of  the  Governor's  staff,  negotiated  the  settlement 
under  which  the  national  government  reimbursed  to  the  State 
the  amount  of  seven  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  dol- 
lars for  stores  and  supplies  already  furnished,  and  arranged 
for  future  transactions  of  like  nature.  Before  the  close  of 
the  War  he  declined,  at  the  Governor's  request,  offers  of  staff 

49 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


commissions  with  Generals  C.  F.  Smith,  Hunter,  and  Burn- 
side,  and  the  appointment  of  Commissioner  of  Internal  Rev- 
enue offered  by  Secretary  Chase. 

In  1863  and  1864  he  was  detailed  by  General  Halleck  and 
Secretaries  Chase  and  Seward  for  confidential  duty  in  South 
Carolina  —  inquiring  into  and  reporting  on  the  state  of  the 
Siege  of  Charleston  and  of  the  Blockade.  Later  in  the  War, 
his  father,  who  had  been  appointed  Treasury-Agent  at  Savan- 
nah to  take  custody  and  care  of  captured  and  abandoned 
property,  became  so  seriously  ill  that  Browne  found  it  neces- 
sary to  relieve  him,  and  for  some  time  performed  the  duties 
of  the  office.  Returning  to  Boston,  he  resumed  the  practice 
of  the  law,  and  in  1867  was  appointed  Reporter  of  the  De- 
cisions of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  —  an  office  which  he 
resigned  in  1873,  after  having  published  volumes  97  to  114 
in  the  series  of  Massachusetts  Reports. 

Early  in  1874  he  removed  to  New  York  to  become  manag- 
ing editor  of  the  "  New  York  Evening  Post."  In  1875  he 
took  a  position  on  the  editorial  staff  of  the  "  New  York 
Herald,"  in  association  with  Charles  Nordhoff  and  Dr.  Hos- 
mer  as  council,  and  became  managing  editor  of  the  evening 
edition  of  that  paper,  "  The  Telegram."  His  relations  with 
James  Gordon  Bennett  assumed  a  confidential  nature,  and 
he  was  frequently  summoned  to  Paris  to  advise  about  the 
conducting  of  his  two  journals.  Having  travelled  in  Mexico, 
and  having  acquired  an  extensive  knowledge  of  South  Ameri- 
can affairs,  he  was  sent  by  Mr.  Bennett  to  Chile  in  1883,  dur- 
ing the  war  between  that  country  and  Peru  —  a  journey  on 
which  his  wife  accompanied  him.  He  was  editorial  director, 
for  several  years,  on  subjects  relating  to  New  York  City  af- 
fairs and  to  finance.  He  drew,  and  through  Senator  Foster 
procured  the  introduction  of,  the  Canal  amendment  to  the 
State  Constitution. 

In  1887  Browne  returned  to  Boston  and  became  a  member 
of  the  banking  house  of  Cordley  &  Company,  a  position  which 
he  held  until  his  death,  and  this  occurred  on  June  25,  1891, 
of  a  disease  dating  probably  from  the  privations  encountered 
in  the  Utah  Expedition,  from  which  he  had  suffered  for  many 

50 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


years  with  fortitude,  and  which  debarred  him  in  a  great 
measure  from  sharing  the  enjoyments  of  social  life.  But 
his  consolation  was  in  books  and  in  the  society  of  a  few 
familiar  friends.  He  left  in  the  minds  of  all  who  knew  him  the 
impression  of  a  singularly  active  intellect  and  virile  character. 

Browne  was  married,  on  June  27,  1867,  in  New  York,  by 
Dr.  Cheever,  to  Mattie,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Martha 
(Young)  Griffith,  of  Kentucky,  who,  though  born  and  brought 
up  in  the  midst  of  slavery,  sympathized  with  her  husband  in 
his  zeal  for  the  antislavery  cause,  being,  in  her  own  words, 
"  a  born  radical  who  believed  in  the  rights  and  freedom  of 
mankind  irrespective  of  race,  color,  or  condition."  With  her 
abolitionism  was  more  than  a  belief.  She  set  free  her  many 
inherited  slaves.  Browne  left  no  children.  His  widow  died 
May  25,  1906. 

Among  his  publications  are  "  In  Memoriam  of  John  W. 
Browne,"  Boston,  1860;  "  Sketch  of  the  Official  Life  of  Gov- 
ernor Andrew,"  Boston,  1868;  reviews  of  "  Humboldt's  Cen- 
tenary "  and  "Mill's  Autobiography,"  1874;  "The  Growing 
Power  of  Chile,"  New  York,  1886;  numerous  contributions 
to  magazine  literature  in  the  "  North  American  Review," 
"  Atlantic  Monthly,"  "  Century,"  and  other  serials ;  "  Latin 
and  Saxon  America,"  1889.  In  1875  he  contributed  to 
"  Harper's  Weekly "  an  elaborate  review  of  the  "  Judicial 
Record  of  New  York  Courts  in  the  Tammany  (Tweed)  and 
Canal  Rings,"  afterwards  printed  in  pamphlet  form,  with  an 
introductory  letter  by  Charles  O'Conor,  New  York,  1896. 

JOHN    DUNCAN    BRYANT, 

Son  of  JOHN  and  MARY  ANN  (DUNCAN)  BRYANT,  was 
born  in  the  parish  of  Meriden  and  town  of  Plainfield,  New 
Hampshire,  October  21,  1829.  Both  his  father's  and  his 
mother's  families  were  of  Massachusetts  origin,  the  former 
being  from  Plympton  and  the  latter  from  Haverhill. 

His  earlier  education  was  received  at  Meriden  in  a  private 
school,  and  later  under  the  instruction  of  a  local  clergyman, 
and  for  a  time  at  the  Kimball  Union  Academy.  At  about 
his  fifteenth  year  it  was  proposed  that  he  should  complete  his 

51 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


schooling  and  fit  for  college  at  Boston,  while  living  at  the 
house  of  an  aunt.  In  1846  he  entered  the  Boston  Latin 
School  and  finished  his  preparations  for  college  in  a  three- 
year  course,  entering  Harvard  as  a  Freshman  in  1849. 

Family  circumstances  made  it  desirable  that  he  should  live 
at  home  rather  than  at  Cambridge,  and  he  was  excused  from 
morning  prayers  on  condition  that  the  exemption  should  not 
interfere  with  recitations.  In  spite  of  the  limited  means  of 
transportation  at  that  day,  and  the  early  hour  of  the  first 
recitation,  he  never  missed  once,  walking  out  to  Cambridge 
and  back  to  Boston  five  days  out  of  seven,  and  keeping  a  room 
in  the  college  buildings  to  meet  an  emergency.  Bryant  ob- 
tained a  high  rank,  and  for  his  Commencement  part  had  a 
dissertation  —  "  The  Disinterment  of  Nineveh." 

After  leaving  college  he  taught  for  one  year  in  Mr.  Epes 
S.  Dixwell's  private  school  in  Boylston  Place. 

A  part  of  the  year  1855  was  spent  at  the  Harvard  Law 
School,  and  then  Bryant  entered  as  a  student  the  office  of 
William  Dehon,  Esq.,  in  the  old  Scollay  Building,  which 
formed  an  island  in  Scollay  Square. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  Bar  on  July  7,  1856,  and 
taken  into  partnership  by  Mr.  Dehon,  a  relative  —  an  arrange- 
ment which  proved  in  every  way  agreeable,  owing  to  the 
professional  and  personal  qualities  of  the  latter,  until  Mr. 
Dehon's  retirement  from  practice  about  the  year  1875. 

For  a  few  years,  1887-90,  Bryant  was  associated  in  part- 
nership with  Mr.  J.  Homer  Sweetser  —  a  connection  termi- 
nated by  Mr.  Sweetser's  engagements  in  other  than  law  busi- 
ness, but,  while  it  lasted,  extremely  satisfactory  to  Bryant. 

Domestic  duties  and  the  devotion  of  a  brother  restrained 
Bryant  from  engaging  actively  in  the  Civil  War,  but  when 
the  1 2th  (Webster)  Regiment  was  raised  he  was  Treasurer 
of  the  Committee  having  the  matter  in  charge. 

Bryant  was  steadily  engaged  in  the  exercise  of  his  profes- 
sion from  the  time  he  entered  it.  His  work  was  largely  in 
connection  with  wills  and  trusts,  and  led  to  the  management 
of  trusts  to  a  considerable  extent.  Fire  and  marine  insur- 
ance also  became  almost  a  specialty  in  his  office.  The  defence 

52 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


of  suits  against  insurance  companies  of  late  years  constituted 
his  principal  court  practice. 

In  addition  to  strictly  professional  work  Bryant  was  for 
some  years  Treasurer  of  the  Sutherland  Falls  Marble  Com- 
pany and  Director  of  the  Vermont  and  Canada  Railroad  and 
of  the  Ames  Sword  Company. 

Bryant  enjoyed  a  lucrative  practice.  He  left  a  large  for- 
tune and  a  very  long  will,  including  public  bequests  to  the 
amount  of  $140,000.  One  important  clause  of  the  will  was 
decided  to  be  void  and  set  aside  after  litigation,  so  that  his 
name  may  be  added  to  the  list  of  well-read  lawyers  who  have 
made  similar  mistakes. 

To  his  friends  and  classmates,  however,  the  most  character- 
istic and  interesting  feature  of  the  will  is  his  sturdy  profes- 
sion of  attachment  to  the  older  customs  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  to  which  he  clung.  After  the  death  of  Bishop  Brooks 
and  the  introduction  at  Trinity  Church  of  a  vested  choir,  sit- 
ting in  the  chancel,  he  left  it,  and  migrated  to  the  then  neg- 
lected Christ  Church  at  the  extreme  North  End.  His  bequest 
to  Christ  Church  was  to  be  held  "  only  so  long  as  the  choir 
is  made  up  of  female  and  male  singers  and  is  located  in  the 
organ  and  choir  gallery,  where  the  same  now  is,  and  only  so 
long  as  the  Divine  Presence  is  recognized  as  pervading  the 
church  and  encompassing  the  worshippers;  so  that  it  is  not 
necessary  to  turn  about  and  look  into  every  corner  in  order 
to  find  the  Deity  and  to  acceptably  declare  belief  or  to  render 
homage,  or  to  implore  benediction.  Whenever  a  narrower 
belief  of  the  Divine  Presence  in  his  church  is  taught  or  is 
indicated  by  habitual  practice  (habitual  as  distinguished  from 
some  sporadic  or  exceptional  use  by  a  stranger),  as  by  the 
habitual  or  customary  turning  about  of  the  clergy  in  reciting 
the  creed  or  in  invoking  the  benediction,  or  whenever  the 
musical  service  in  that  church  shall  be  habitually  conducted 
by  a  vested  choir  at  the  chancel  end  of  the  church  or  else- 
where therein,  or  whenever  if  at  all  (quod  Deus  avertat)  the 
church  edifice  shall  pass  out  of  the  control  of  the  corporation 
and  pew-owners,  then  this  trust  as  to  Christ  Church  shall 


cease." 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Bryant  was  married,  on  October  18,  1864,  to  Ellen  Maria 
Potter  Reynolds,  daughter  of  William  B.  and  Elizabeth  M. 
(Carter)  Reynolds,  but  there  was  no  issue  and  she  died  at 
Boston,  July  5,  1908. 

Bryant  died  July  27,  1911. 

CHARLES    CARROLL, 

First  scholar  and  valedictorian  of  the  Class  of  1853,  was 
son  of  CHARLES  HOLT  and  REBECCA  E.  (WHITE)  CARROLL, 
both  originally  of  Boston  but  settled  at  Baltimore,  Maryland, 
at  the  time  of  his  birth,  November  17,  1832. 

He  attended  what  he  called  "  several  very  indifferent 
schools  "  until  near  the  close  of  his  fifteenth  year,  and  left 
them  in  a  supposed  state  of  preparation  for  college.  But, 
being  intended  for  business,  he  entered  his  father's  counting- 
room  and  was  fast  learning  the  habits  of  an  accountant  and 
business  man,  when  the  removal  of  his  family  to  New  Eng- 
land changed  all  his  plans.  He  now  spent  a  year  at  the 
Cambridge  High  School  and  entered  college  as  Freshman  in 
1849.  He  was  a  hard  student  and  in  the  matter  of  marks 
facile  princeps.  His  tastes  inclined  to  language  and  litera- 
ture. At  the  inauguration  of  President  Walker,  May  24, 
1853,  Carroll  was  appointed  to  deliver  the  Latin  Oration. 
The  subject  of  his  Valedictory  Oration  was  "  Mere  Thinkers." 
It  was  a  disappointment  to  him  that,  owing  to  his  father's 
circumstances  at  the  time,  he  was  not  able  to  pursue  his  studies 
in  a  foreign  university  immediately  after  graduating,  though 
he  admitted  pleasantly  that  all  others  after  Harvard  would 
be  but  stepmothers  to  him. 

On  leaving  college  he  became  private  tutor  to  the  sons  of 
Mr.  John  P.  Cushing  at  Belmont,  a  position  which  he  retained 
for  about  a  year.  He  then  went  to  Europe,  studied  at  Got- 
tingen,  returned  in  1856,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  New 
York,  studying  law,  teaching  in  private  families,  and  engag- 
ing in  journalism.  At  the  end  of  two  years  he  resumed 
teaching  as  a  profession,  and  it  became  his  principal  occu- 
pation for  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

In  the  summer  of  1858  he  taught  in  the  High  School  of 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Concord,  Massachusetts,  where  he  is  remembered  by  some  of 
his  pupils  as  the  best  teacher  they  ever  had.  In  September, 
1858,  he  began  to  teach  in  the  English  High  School  of  Bos- 
ton as  usher,  a  position  which  he  held  until  the  end  of  the 
school  year  1863-64.  He  then  opened  a  young  ladies'  school 
at  9  Somerset  Street,  Boston,  which  occupied  him  during  the 
school  years  1865-66  and  1866-67.  Much  if  not  the  whole 
of  the  period  between  closing  the  school  for  young  ladies 
and  his  appointment  in  1871  as  Professor  of  French  and 
German  in  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York  was 
passed  by  him  in  Europe.  He  lived  for  some  time  in  Berlin 
and  in  Florence. 

In  addition  to  the  work  of  his  professorship  Carroll  did  a 
good  deal  of  writing  for  the  press,  contributing  to  "  Harper's," 
"  Scribner's  "  and  the  "  Century  "  magazines  short  stories, 
translating  from  the  French,  and  acting  for  the  last  three 
years  of  his  life  as  musical  editor  of  the  "  New  York  Dra- 
matic Mirror."  His  work  is  described  as  discriminating,  ac- 
curate, and  painstaking. 

Carroll  died  of  pneumonia  on  the  I5th  of  February,  1889, 
after  a  few  days'  illness.  A  friendly  tribute  to  his  memory 
appeared  soon  after  in  the  "  Boston  Post."  The  writer  says 
his  "  occasional  visits  to  this  city  gave  pleasure  to  a  select 
circle  of  friends,  who  appreciated  his  attractive  personal  quali- 
ties and  admired  his  brilliant  talents  and  acquirements. 
Though  he  was  one  of  those  men  who  do  not  attain  the  lofty 
elevation  which  seems  foreshadowed  by  their  rank  in  college 
and  by  their  occasional  flights  in  literature,  he  impressed  all 
who  knew  him  as  being  equal  to  greater  honors  than  he 
reached.  Physical  drawbacks  doubtless  impeded  his  worldly 
advancement,  and  his  highly  strung  intellectual  organization 
was  at  the  mercy  of  his  susceptible  nervous  system.  Yet  he 
did  useful  and  brilliant  work  in  journalism  and  literature  and, 
as  Professor  of  French  and  German  in  the  University  of  New 
York,  he  performed  his  duties  with  ability  and  success.  A 
brilliant  talker,  he  embodied  in  epigrams  what  most  men 
would  have  diffused  in  homilies.  Dying  at  56,  he  has  left 
upon  the  minds  of  those  who  knew  him  best  an  impression 

55 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


of  talents  and  capacities,  of  gifts  and  graces,  which,  under 
more  favoring  circumstances,  would  have  raised  him  to  the 
heights  of  intellectual  and  social  distinction." 

Carroll  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philos- 
ophy from  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York  in  June, 
1872.  He  was  married,  on  April  7,  1859,  to  Mary  Powers, 
daughter  of  Nathan  and  Mary  Lincoln  Caswell,  deceased  in 
Florence,  Italy,  November  26,  1877.  Their  children,  who 
survived  him,  were  Rosalie,  born  October  30,  1864,  and  Anna 
M.,  born  September  12,  1870. 

NATHAN    HENRY    CHAMBERLAIN, 

Son  of  ARTEMAS  WHITE  and  LYDIA  SMITH  (ELLIS) 
CHAMBERLAIN,  was  born,  probably  on  December  28,  1828, 
in  that  part  of  the  town  of  Sandwich  which  was  then  called 
Monument  and  has  since  been  called  Bourne,  and  he  seems 
to  have  died  in  the  house  in  which  he  first  saw  the  light. 
Christmas  Day  and  December  28  are  both  claimed  as  his 
birthday,  but  whether  1828,  '29,  '30,  or  '31  is  the  natal  year 
is  in  doubt,  and  the  place  is  uncertain.  At  times  he  resided 
with  his  parents  at  Pocasset,  Sandwich  Village,  and  West 
Barnstable  in  succession.  At  the  two  last-named  places  his 
father  had  charge  of  the  poorhouse.  He  attended  the  Sand- 
wich Academy  and  Paul  Wing's  school  at  Scorton.  All  his 
early  life  was  a  struggle  with  poverty,  inspired  by  an  intense 
desire  to  have  a  good  education,  and  such  small  savings  as  a 
country  boy  could  make  were  devoted  to  the  purchase  of 
books,  which  formed  the  foundation  of  a  fine  library,  later  to 
be  enriched  with  rare  editions.  Partly  with  a  view  of  satis- 
fying this  thirst  for  learning,  his  parents  removed  to  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  attended  the  Hopkins  Classical  School,  and 
where  his  father  found  employment  as  a  policeman.  But 
school  and  college  were  only  made  possible  to  him  by  his 
own  exertions,  and  he  applied  himself  to  any  honest  work 
which  came  to  hand,  whether  the  trimming  of  lawns  or  rabbit- 
snaring  or  shovelling  dirt. 

He  entered  Harvard  in  1849  as  Freshman  and,  although 
obliged  at  times  to  leave  college  to  earn  needed  money  — 

56 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


forced  to  teach  during  the  day  and  carry  along  the  college 
work  at  night  —  studying  in  bed  because  too  poor  to  main- 
tain a  fire  —  he  succeeded  in  graduating,  but  without  rank, 
in  spite  of  all  obstacles.  In  the  Senior  year  he  gained 
the  Second  Bowdoin  Prize  for  an  English  Dissertation. 
After  graduation  he  passed  some  time  in  the  Harvard 
Divinity  School,  and  completed  his  professional  studies  at  the 
University  of  Heidelberg.  Returning,  he  entered  the  Unitarian 
Ministry  and  was  settled  at  Canton,  Massachusetts,  from  1857 
to  1859,  and  at  Baltimore,  Maryland,  from  1860  to  1863. 

Leaving  the  Unitarian  body  in  1863,  ne  was  received  into 
the  communion  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  after 
taking  priest's  orders  his  terms  of  service  were  as  follows : 
at  Birmingham,  Connecticut,  1864-67;  Morrisania,  New 
York,  1867-71;  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  1871-73;  Somer- 
ville,  Massachusetts,  1873—79;  East  Boston,  Massachusetts, 
1882-89.  After  resigning  his  pastorate  at  East  Boston  he 
retired  from  the  active  exercise  of  his  profession,  but  did 
occasional  work  while  residing  at  Bourne  on  Cape  Cod. 
Apart  from  his  profession,  Chamberlain  was  prolific  in  liter- 
ature, and  employed  his  pen  on  a  variety  of  subjects.  Besides 
numerous  occasional  sermons,  tracts,  and  pamphlets  on  church 
and  popular  subjects,  he  published  "  The  Autobiography  of  a 
New  England  Farm  House,"  1864;  "The  Sphinx  in  Aubrey 
Parish/'  1889;  "What's  the  Matter?  or  Our  Tariff  and  its 
Taxes,"  1890;  "Samuel  Sewall  and  the  World  he  lived  in," 

1897. 

The  following  extracts  are  taken  from  obituary  notices 
which  appeared  on  Chamberlain's  death :  "If  ever  man  was 
loyal  to  truth,  as  he  saw  it,  that  man  was  Nathan  Henry 
Chamberlain.  Wherever  the  guiding  star  led  he  was  con- 
strained and  content  to  follow.  The  enjoyment  of  assured 
success  among  devoted  friends  of  a  former  ministry,  the 
suggestions  of  worldly  prudence,  the  possibility  of  weary 
waiting  for  tardy  appreciation  in  another  communion  —  these 
things  were  with  him  as  nothing  when  compared  to  the  con- 
trolling effect  upon  his  conscience  of  the  demands  of  truth." 

"Through  every  line  of  his  written  work  shine  forth  a 

57 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


noble  soul  and  a  brilliant  intellect.  Deep  thinking  into  the 
essence  of  life  and  its  problems  and  its  lessons,  high  purpose 
to  benefit  and  elevate,  devotion  to  truth  and  the  purest  ideals 
in  morals  and  religion  —  these  things  stand  out  through  every 
page  of  the  clear  and  incisive,  graphic  English  of  which  he 
was  so  complete  a  master." 

"  But  world  problems  never  obscured  to  him  the  fact  that 
the  part  of  Massachusetts  to  which  he  felt  he  owed  peculiar 
allegiance  had  also  its  own  individual  history.  He  knew  and 
had  studied  the  history  of  Cape  Cod,  as  his  '  Itinerary '  amply 
shows.  Much  laborious  and  independent  research  had  enabled 
him  to  locate,  for  all  time,  the  lost  site  of  Judge  Sew  all's 
'  Meeting  House '  at  Bournsdale  —  *  The  Trading  Post  at 
Manomet,'  so  called  by  the  Indians.  For,  as  a  loyal  son 
of  Cape  Cod,  he  knew  it  and  loved  it  as  he  loved  no  other 
spot.  And  when,  in  1889,  the  town  of  Sandwich  chose  him 
to  be  the  Orator  of  the  day  at  the  celebration  of  the  25Oth 
anniversary  of  its  birth,  it  was  thought  by  many  to  be  but 
a  fitting  recognition  of  the  worthiness  and  manly  achieve- 
ment of  one  of  her  sons  in  whom  she  could  scarcely  fail  to 
feel  a  proud  satisfaction." 

For  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  Chamberlain's  health 
was  seriously  impaired,  and  his  sudden  death  at  Bourne  from 
apoplexy,  on  April  I,  1901,  was  not  an  altogether  unexpected 
event.  He  was  twice  married,  first,  on  February  19,  1855, 
to  Hannah  Simonds  Tewkesbury,  daughter  of  Charles  S. 
and  Elizabeth  Anna  (Richards)  Tewkesbury,  and  by  this 
marriage  had  two  sons:  Charles  Frederic,  born  November 
30,  1855,  and  Henry  Dudley,  born  May  10,  1857.  He  was 
married  a  second  time,  on  April  6,  1869, to  Mariette  Cleveland 
Hyde,  daughter  of  Simeon  and  Catharine  (Cleveland)  Hyde, 
who  survived  him,  and  by  her  had  one  daughter,  Ethel  Clap- 
ham,  born  June  29,  1871.  All  his  children  now  write  the 
name  Chamberlayne. 

THEODORE    CHASE, 

Eldest  son  of  THEODORE  and  CLARISSA  ANDREWS  (BiGE- 
LOW)  CHASE,  was  born  at  Boston,  February  4,  1832.  He  was 

58 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


fitted  for  college  partly  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  which  he 
entered  in  1842,  and  partly  under  the  instructions  of  Francis 
James  Child,  afterwards  professor. 

Not  being  under  the  necessity  of  adopting  a  profession 
or  engaging  in  business,  he  was  free  to  consult  his  taste 
for  travel,  and  spent  much  of  his  time  in  Europe.  He  was 
enthusiastically  fond  of  music  and  an  appreciative  critic,  but 
his  enjoyment  was  much  impaired  by  deafness.  He  col- 
lected a  large  and  extremely  valuable  musical  library. 

He  married,  on  November  17,  1868,  Alice  Bowdoin,  daugh- 
ter of  James  Bowdoin  Bradlee,  of  Boston,  but  had  no  children. 

He  died,  March  18,  1894,  of  anaemia. 

BENJAMIN    CUTLER    CLARK, 

Son  of  BENJAMIN  CUTLER  and  MARY  (PRESTON)  CLARK, 
was  born  at  Boston,  October  10,  1833.  He  was  prepared  for 
college  at  the  Chauncy  Hall  School,  in  Boston,  under  the 
care  of  Messrs.  Thayer  and  Cushing,  and  entered  Harvard 
as  Freshman  in  1849.  The  part  assigned  to  him  at  Com- 
mencement was  an  essay  on  "  Hayti,"  a  subject  especially 
appropriate  on  account  of  his  father's  having  held  the  con- 
sulship at  Boston  for  that  Republic  for  many  years,  and  his 
consequent  opportunities  for  information  concerning  it. 

In  October,  after  graduation,  he  entered  his  father's  com- 
mercial house  of  B.  C.  Clark  &  Company,  importers  of 
foreign  goods,  as  clerk,  and  gradually  advanced  in  rank, 
in  the  knowledge  of  the  business,  and  in  participation  in 
the  profits,  until,  in  1862,  on  his  father's  retiring  from  busi- 
ness, he  came  to  carry  it  on  alone  without  change  of  name 
and  style. 

In  1864  he  was  appointed  Consul  for  Hayti,  and  in  the  same 
year  visited  Europe,  a  visit  which  was  repeated  in  1894. 

In  1872  Clark  took  charge  of  the  Pearson  Cordage  Com- 
pany as  Treasurer,  and  afterwards  became  President  also, 
making  it  his  principal  occupation,  the  works  being  on  Nor- 
folk Avenue,  Roxbury,  and  the  product  what  is  known  as 
"  Binder  Cord,"  for  transporting  the  harvests  of  this  and 
other  countries. 

59 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Clark  wrote  for  the  "  Hundred  Years  of  American  Com- 
merce," published  in  1895,  "  A  History  of  the  Cordage  In- 
dustry in  this  Country,"  which  was  also  printed  separately. 
Besides  this  he  contributed  many  articles  of  various  kinds 
to  the  newspapers. 

Added  to  the  labors  incident  to  all  the  business  and  the 
care  of  trust  estates,  Clark  was  at  times  one  of  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society;  a 
Director  and  Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the 
Bostonian  Society;  Vice-President  and  President  of  the 
Massachusetts  Fish  and  Game  Protective  Association;  Treas- 
urer and  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  Club; 
Vice-President  of  the  Boston  Art  Club;  Trustee  of  the  Hale 
Memorial  Fund;  Commodore  of  the  Cohasset  Yacht  Club; 
member  of  the  Harvard  Musical  Society,  Harvard  Club  of 
New  York,  Merchants'  Club,  New  England  Historic-Gen- 
ealogical Society,  Episcopalian  Club;  one  of  the  Incorpora- 
tors  and  Directors  of  the  John  Howard  Industrial  Home; 
Treasurer  of  the  Needlewoman's  Friend  Society;  one  of  the 
Honorary  Trustees  of  the  Floating  Hospital,  and  one  of  the 
Corporation  of  Willard  Hospital. 

As  the  foregoing  list  shows,  charity  and  philanthropy  have 
occupied  a  large  share  of  Clark's  attention,  and  mindful  of 
the  words,  "  I  was  in  prison  and  ye  visited  me,"  he  has  made 
a  specialty  of  work  for  prisoners,  being  in  the  practice  for 
years  of  visiting  the  Suffolk  County  Jail  every  Sunday  after- 
noon and  the  State  Prison  once  a  month.  A  most  notable 
instance  of  his  desire  that  the  most  unpromising  case  should 
have  a  fair  chance  was  the  aid  rendered  by  him  in  money  and 
sympathy  in  the  defence  of  Bram,  accused  and  generally  be- 
lieved to  be  guilty  of  a  hideous  murder  on  the  high  seas. 
In  this  case  he  lived  to  be  convinced  that  his  sympathy  was 
misplaced.  Another  original  and  graceful  form  of  benevo- 
lence practised  by  Clark  was  the  making  good  of  deficiencies 
in  postage  on  packages  mailed  at  Christmas  time  and  held 
for  want  of  stamps.  A  few  weeks  before  Christmas  he 
saw  the  postmaster,  and  gave  orders  to  forward  such  matter 
without  delay,  and  charge  the  amount  of  deficit  to  him.  This 

60 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


was  done  quietly  for  years  before  the  secret  came  out.  And, 
even  then,  neither  sender  nor  recipient  was  the  wiser! 

He  spent  his  summers  at  Cohasset,  and  was  known  as  an 
ardent  fisherman,  having  secured  up  to  a  late  date  a  record 
of  3467  tautog,  and  as  an  inveterate  lover  of  wild-fowl  shoot- 
ing having  brought  down  in  his  time  4517  ducks.  Add  to 
this  instinct  for  sport  his  fondness  for  sailing  and  for  the 
management  of  a  twenty-one-foot  knockabout  in  the  races  of 
the  Cohasset  Yacht  Club,  with  the  occasional  reward  of 
"  getting  the  gun  "  on  crossing  the  line  at  the  finish. 

No  account  of  Clark  would  be  complete  without  an  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  lively  interest  he  always  took  in  his  class 
and  classmates.  He  has  constantly  attended  their  meetings 
and  liberally  contributed  to  their  resources.  A  memorable 
dinner  given  by  him  at  Taft's  well-known  hostelry  at  Point 
Shirley  on  October  2,  1889,  in  honor  of  President  Eliot,  at 
the  end  of  his  first  twenty  years  in  the  Presidency,  is  looked 
back  upon  as  one  of  the  pleasantest  gatherings  in  the  history 
of  the  class,  the  house  having  been  specially  reopened  on  that 
occasion  after  its  closing  to  the  public,  and  a  steamboat 
chartered  for  the  day.  To  quote  the  lines  addressed  to  him 
then  by  the  impulsive  and  generous-hearted  Albert  G.  Browne ; 

"  Each  comrade's  sorrow  ever  was  thy  grief, 
And  each  one's  happiness  thy  common  joy !  " 

Clark  was  married,  on  September  29,  1859,  to  Adeline 
Kinnicut,  daughter  of  Aaron  Davis  Weld,  of  West  Roxbury. 
Mrs.  Clark  died,  August  19,  1900,  leaving  four  children: 
Benjamin  Preston,  born  October  8,  1860  (Amherst,  1881); 
Alice  Harding,  born  November  21,  1862;  Gertrude  Weld, 
born  January  28,  1868;  and  Ellery  Harding,  born  March  13, 
1874. 

Clark  died  at  his  house,  43  Bay  State  Road,  Boston,  May 
20,  1909.  For  some  years  past  his  health  had  been  failing 
and  he  had  undergone  a  serious  surgical  operation,  but  though 
weak  he  appeared  at  the  annual  dinner  in  the  January  preced- 
ing his  death,  with  apparent  pleasure  and  satisfaction  to 
himself. 

61 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


URIEL    HASKELL    CROCKER, 

Eldest  son  of  URIEL  and  SARAH  KIDDER  (HASKELL) 
CROCKER,  was  born  at  Boston,  December  24,  1832.  Crocker's 
father,  of  the  Boston  Publishing  House  of  Crocker  &  Brew- 
ster,  was  a  native  of  Marblehead,  and  gave  the  beautiful 
marine  Park  surrounding  Fort  Sewall  to  that  town. 

He  was  fitted  for  college  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  and 
entered  Harvard  as  Freshman  in.  1849.  He  maintained  a 
high  rank  in  college,  and  was  one  of  the  few  whose  mathe- 
matical tastes  led  them  to  take  the  elective  course  under  Pro- 
fessor Peirce.  His  part  at  Commencement  was  a  "  Disser- 
tation on  the  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley." 

After  graduation,  he  entered  the  Harvard  Law  School,  and 
took  his  degree  of  LL.B.  in  1855.  A  year  was  then  spent 
in  the  office  of  Sidney  Bartlett,  Esq.,  in  Boston,  and  on  April 
I,  1856,  Crocker  was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  Bar.  His 
practice  was  chiefly  that  of  a  conveyancer,  in  which  his 
brother,  George  Glover  Crocker  (H.  U.  1864),  was  asso- 
ciated with  him  after  the  latter  had  completed  his  professional 
studies. 

A  rare  skill  in  perceiving  the  practical  bearing  of  a  re- 
ported case,  and  of  expressing  it  in  condensed  and  accurate 
language,  led  him  into  the  practice  of  making  notes  for  his 
own  use.  The  germ  of  his  after-published  work  may  be 
found  in  an  abstract  of  cases  on  the  subject  of  "  Notice  to 
Quit,"  in  the  "  Monthly  Law  Reporter  "  of  May,  1858,  which 
was  expanded  into  his  book,  published  in  1867,  entitled  "  Notes 
on  Common  Forms:  A  Book  of  Massachusetts  Law."  As 
indicated  in  the  title,  he  made  no  attempt  to  lay  down  or  to 
illustrate  general  principles  or  to  write  a  treatise,  but  he  fur- 
nished first  aid  for  those  who  required  an  immediate  answer 
to  a  question  relating  to  our  own  domestic  practice,  which 
frequently  proved  to  be  all  the  help  that  was  needed.  Of  this 
book  new  and  enlarged  editions  appeared  in  1872  and  1883, 
and  a  fourth,  which  was  passing  through  the  press  at  the 
time  of  his  decease,  in  1902. 

In  1869  he,  in  conjunction  with  his  brother,  published  a 
book  entitled  "  Notes  on  the  General  Statutes  of  Massachu- 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


setts/'  a  second  edition  of  which  was  printed  in  1875.  This 
work  probably  led  to  his  appointment  by  Governor  Long,  on 
April  13,  1880,  as  one  of  three  commissioners  to  revise  the 
Statutes  of  the  Commonwealth,  the  others  being  Charles  Allen 
and  James  M.  Barker,  Esquires,  since  then  Judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  Simultaneously  with  the  publication  of  the 
revision  itself,  which  went  into  force  in  1882,  and  is  known 
as  "  The  Public  Statutes  of  Massachusetts,"  appeared  a  new 
edition  of  the  notes  on  the  statutes,  now  "  Notes  on  Public 
Statutes."  These  useful  works  have  become  indispensable  to 
every  practising  lawyer  in  the  State. 

In  1877  the  country  was  going  through  a  long  period  of 
business  depression,  and  everybody  was  discussing  its  causes. 
A  favorite  theory  was  that  it  had  been  occasioned  by  waste 
of  capital,  and  that  the  remedy  was  to  be  found  in  the  prac- 
tice of  a  general  economy.  This  struck  Mr.  Crocker  as  a 
harmful  fallacy,  that  is  to  say,  when  considered  as  advice 
given  to  capitalists  having  incomes  larger  than  their  needs. 
He  became  fascinated  with  the  subject,  and  for  the  rest  of 
his  life  he  was  continually  turning  it  over  in  his  mind  and 
becoming  more  and  more  confident  in  the  correctness  of  his 
own  views.  A  thin  volume,  entitled  "  Excessive  Supply  a 
Cause  of  Commercial  Distress,"  published  in  1884,  contains 
his  earlier  attempts  to  obtain  notice  for  his  views  on  the  sub- 
ject, beginning  with  a  letter  to  the  "  Boston  Daily  Advertiser  " 
of  August  8,  1877,  and  including  an  article  which  had  ap- 
peared in  the  "  Atlantic  Monthly  "  for  December,  1878,  en- 
titled "  Saving  versus  Spending  —  The  Hard  Times  —  Two 
Theories  as  to  the  Causes  and  the  Remedy."  Then  followed 
a  series  of  other  thin  volumes,  beginning  with  "  The  Depres- 
sion in  Trade  and  the  Wages  of  Labor,"  published  in  1886, 
with  the  felicitous  motto  from  Proverbs,  "  There  is  that 
Scattereth  and  yet  Increaseth;  There  is  that  Withholdeth 
More  than  is  Meet,  but  it  Tendeth  to  Poverty."  In  this 
brochure  he  takes  the  part  of  Labor,  and  suggests  that  a 
larger  share  of  profits  in  the  shape  of  increased  wages  and 
consequent  purchasing  power  would  greatly  increase  con- 
sumption, and  set  the  machinery  of  production  and  consump- 

63 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


tion  in  full  swing.  Next  came,  in  1887,  "  Over-production 
and  Commercial  Distress,"  in  which  he  combats  Mill's  argu- 
ment to  prove  the  impossibility  of  a  general  over-production, 
founded  on  the  assumption  that  no  man  labors  for  anything 
which  he  does  not  expect  to  consume  himself  or  to  exchange 
for  something  which  he  expects  to  consume.  Crocker  re- 
gards this  doctrine  as  applicable  only  to  a  simple  state  of 
society,  and  shows  that  modern  industry  is  controlled  by 
capitalists  whose  aim  is  the  accumulation  of  fortunes  and  not 
of  things  they  expect  to  consume,  to  whom  stoppage  of  oper- 
ations is  frequently  worse  than  running  at  a  loss  and  piling 
up  unsalable  goods.  A  pamphlet  entitled  "  Excess  of  Supply, 
its  Cause  and  its  Results,"  was  printed  in  January,  1890. 

Mr.  Crocker  contributed  two  other  articles  to  the  "  Quarterly 
Journal  of  Economics"  —  the  first  in  April,  1877,  on  "Gen- 
eral Over-Production  " ;  the  second  in  1892,  on  "The  Over- 
production Fallacy  "  —  and  an  article  by  him  on  "  Diminish- 
ing Returns  from  Investments "  appeared  in  the  "  Social 
Economist "  for  April,  1893.  Finally,  a  little  book,  entitled 
"  The  Cause  of  Hard  Times,"  was  published  in  1895,  of  which 
a  revised  edition  came  out  in  1896.  There  is  much  repetition 
in  these  productions,  and  it  was  curious  to  see  in  them  this 
amateur  champion  of  a  new  creed  running  a  tilt  at  veteran 
professors  of  Political  Economy.  He  would  demand,  some- 
what imperatively,  that  they  should  either  answer  his  argu- 
ments or  surrender  unconditionally,  and  he  could  not  under- 
stand why  they  did  not  do  one  or  the  other.  In  Chapter  XVII 
of  the  book  last  mentioned,  there  is  an  amusing  account  of 
his  attempt  upon  two  Harvard  professors.  Finding  in  an 
examination  paper  this  question,  "  Suppose  everybody  re- 
solved to  consume  productively  only,  what  would  be  the  re- 
sult ?  "  he  saw  his  opportunity  and  seized  upon  it  eagerly,  for 
never  had  the  issue  been  more  distinctly  raised.  He  at  once 
wrote  to  Cambridge  asking  for  the  correct  answer.  One 
gentleman  replied  that  it  was  not  his  question,  but  he  im- 
agined that  his  colleagues  would  hold  that  "  the  answer  might 
properly  depend  upon  the  conditions  of  time  and  place." 
Thereupon  a  colleague  was  addressed  without  calling  out  a 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


reply.  Not  wishing  to  seem  to  require  too  elaborate  an  an- 
swer, he  then  propounded  the  question,  "  Would  the  result 
be  an  increase  of  the  wealth  of  the  world?"  which  required 
for  answer  only  a  simple  "  yes  "  or  "  no,"  but  neither  came, 
and  he  closes  with  this  sigh  of  fatigue :  "  When  I  ask  the 
professors  what  opinions  they  hold  on  these  subjects,  they 
either  fail  to  take  any  notice  of  my  questions,  or,  like  Jack 
Bunsby,  they  reply  that  the  answer  to  the  question  '  might 
properly  depend  upon  the  conditions  of  time  and  place/  It 
may  amuse  one  to  speculate  how  high  a  mark  a  student  would 
have  received  who  should  have  been  brilliant  enough  to  write 
down  this  answer  to  the  question  in  his  examination  paper." 
After  acknowledging  the  repudiation  of  his  views  by  the  pro- 
fessional economists,  he  says  he  does  it  only  to  prevent  the 
latter  from  protesting,  when  the  truth  of  his  views  finally 
becomes  apparent  to  them,  that  they  were  never  fools  enough 
to  deny  such  self-evident  propositions,  but  that  they  had 
always  maintained  and  asserted  them. 

For  the  years  1874  to  1878  inclusive,  Crocker  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  Common  Council,  was  listened  to  in  debate, 
and  did  excellent  and  effective  work  there,  for  which  he  was 
thanked  on  his  retirement,  at  a  dinner  given  in  his  honor  by 
some  of  the  most  solid  men  of  Boston.  Being  entirely  in- 
dependent in  the  expression  of  his  views,  and  having  no 
political  plans  of  his  own  to  advance,  he  became  a  thorn  in 
the  side  of  those  who  had,  and  encountered  them  with  as 
much  pertinacity  as  if  they  had  been  orthodox  professors  of 
political  economy. 

From  1869  to  1875  he  was  active  in  urging  upon  Boston 
the  establishment  of  a  public  park. 

In  the  year  1875  Crocker  surprised  his  friends  and  the 
public  by  contributing  to  the  October  number  of  the  "  Ameri- 
can Law  Review,"  then  published  at  Boston,  an  article  en- 
titled "The  History  of  a  Title"  —  a  delightful  species  of 
"  legal  fiction,"  as  instructive  as  it  is  entertaining.  He  im- 
agines a  title  under  a  will,  proved  in  1830,  to  a  certain  piece 
of  real  estate  in  Boston,  which  in  the  year  1860  is  supposed 
to  be  unimpeachable,  suddenly  undermined  by  a  claim  founded 

65 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


on  a  rule  of  law  laid  down  in  a  certain  case,  for  which  book 
and  page  are  given.  The  successful  claimant,  however,  finds 
that  he  has  won  a  castle  in  the  air,  owing  to  the  operation 
of  a  rarely  applicable  rule  of  descent  upon  a  very  unusual  state 
of  facts  (here  book  and  page  again  are  cited  for  the  law), 
and  so  on  through  a  series  of  dissolving  views,  each  dispelled 
by  some  newly  discovered  evidence,  and  some  case  or  cases 
in  point,  until  the  seventeenth  century  is  reached,  when  the 
bottom  drops  out  of  everything,  and  the  estate  is  found  to 
be  forfeited,  for  breach  of  a  condition  created  in  1660,  to 
the  heirs  of  a  man  who  proves  to  have  been  the  ancestor  of 
our  owner  of  1860.  The  last-named  thereupon  establishes  his 
descent  and  recovers  the  property.  The  story  is  told  with 
a  quiet  grace  and  humor  that  relieve  the  dry,  legal  technicali- 
ties, and  with  an  air  of  truth  which  deceived  some  simple 
souls  and  disturbed  their  rest  for  thinking  of  the  instability 
of  their  possessions. 

When  the  Record  Commissioners  published  their  first  edi- 
tion of  the  "  Book  of  Possessions,"  giving  certain  views  as  to 
its  date  and  writer,  Crocker  showed  his  critical  ability  in 
successfully  controverting  the  opinion  of  so  eminent  an  au- 
thority as  the  late  William  H.  Whitmore. 

Besides  the  work  before  mentioned,  Mr.  Crocker  interested 
himself  in  various  matters  of  public  utility;  appeared  before 
committees  of  the  Legislature,  and  wrote  an  open  letter  to 
Mayor  Matthews  on  what  he  considered  the  uselessness  of  the 
city  sinking  fund. 

Thoroughly  upright  and  conscientious  himself,  he  was  very 
exacting  in  his  demands  upon  others,  and  could  make  but 
little  allowance  for  ordinary  human  nature.  One  of  the  last 
acts  of  his  life  was  to  prefer  a  complaint  before  the  Bar 
Association  against  certain  conveyancers,  for  what  he  con- 
sidered a  serious  offence  against  professional  morality.  It 
was  a  matter  in  which  he  had  no  personal  interest  whatever, 
and  in  which  he  was  more  likely  to  make  enemies  than  friends, 
but  he  took  much  trouble  about  it  and  argued  the  case  him- 
self, without,  however,  any  satisfactory  results. 

His  health  had  been  impaired,  though  not  to  outward  ap- 

66 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


pearance,  for  some  time  before  his  decease,  which  took  place 
on  March  7,  1902,  at  his  residence,  247  Commonwealth  Ave- 
nue, Boston,  and  his  last  illness  was  short. 

Mr.  Crocker  was  twice  married  —  first  on  January  15,  1861, 
to  Clara  Garland  Ballard,  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Clarissa 
(Leavitt)  Ballard,  who  died  on  May  14,  1891,  and  by  whom 
he  had  issue,  George  Uriel  (H.  U.  1884),  born  January  9, 
1863;  Joseph  Ballard,  born  July  8,  1867;  Edgar  (H.  U. 
1897),  born  October  22,  1874:  secondly,  on  April  29,  1893, 
to  Annie  J.  Fitz  (originally  Fitzpatrick),  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam Henry  and  Elizabeth  Jane  (Baxter)  Fitzpatrick,  of 
Charlestown,  Massachusetts. 

In  addition  to  the  public  employments  before  mentioned, 
Mr.  Crocker  was  a  Commissioner  on  the  Revision  of  the 
Ordinances  of  the  City  of  Boston,  in  1882;  a  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument 
Association,  the  Massachusetts  Charitable  Society,  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Charitable  Fire  Society,  "  A  Republican  Institu- 
tion," and  of  the  Union,  St.  Botolph,  Country,  New  Riding, 
and  Unitarian  clubs  in  Boston.  He  served  as  Clerk,  Treasurer, 
and  Director  of  the  South  Cove  Corporation;  Director  and 
President  of  the  United  States  Hotel  Company;  Clerk,  Treas- 
urer, Director,  and  President  of  the  "  Proprietors  of  the 
Revere  House  ";  Director  of  the  Northern  (New  Hampshire) 
Railroad;  Chairman  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  West 
Church  (Boston) ;  Treasurer  of  the  Boston  Civil  Service 
Reform  Association;  member  of  the  General  Committee  of 
the  Citizens'  Association  of  Boston;  President  of  the  Boston 
Lying-in  Hospital,  and  member  of  the  Board  of  Managers 
of  the  Home  for  Aged  Women. 

WILLIAM   HENRY    CUNNINGHAM, 

Son  of  CHARLES  and  ROXALINA  (DABNEY)  CUNNINGHAM, 
was  born  at  Boston,  on  January  18,  1832. 

He  went  through  the  regular  five-year  course  at  the  Boston 
Latin  School,  and  entered  Harvard  in  1849  as  Freshman.  He 
was  one  of  the  crew  of  the  "  Oneida  "  in  the  race  with  Yale 
on  August  3,  1852. 

67 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


After  graduation  he  went  to  Fayal  in  the  bark  "  lo  "  on  a 
visit  to  his  uncle,  Charles  W.  Dabney,  who  was  then  and  for 
many  years  afterwards  Consul  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Western  Islands.  (Another  uncle,  Horace  Cunningham, 
H.  U.  '46,  organized  in  1845,  amongst  the  men  of  his  class, 
the  first  boat's  crew  at  Harvard,  and  procured  for  its  use  the 
"  Oneida,"  which  won  the  race  of  1852.)  On  his  return 
from  Fayal  Cunningham  undertook,  1854—55,  a  business 
voyage  to  San  Francisco,  on  the  brig  "  Lotus,"  belonging  to 
Messrs.  Dabney  &  Cunningham,  merchants,  of  Boston,  and 
thence  to  Hong  Kong,  Foo  Chow,  and  Batavia.  Leaving 
the  ship  in  the  East,  he  returned  to  America  by  way  of 
Europe,  and  went  into  business  as  a  Boston  merchant,  in 
which  occupation,  however,  he  continued  but  for  a  short  time. 
After  his  return  from  China  he  was  always  an  invalid,  and 
continued  to  live  with  his  parents  at  48  Mt.  Vernon  Street, 
where  he  died,  unmarried,  September  20,  1867. 

ELBRIDGE  JEFFERSON  CUTLER, 

Son  of  ELIHU  CUTLER,  JR.,  and  REBECCA  TEMPLE  CUTLER, 
was  born  at  Holliston,  Massachusetts,  on  December  28, 

1831. 

He  was  fitted  for  college  at  Westboro  by  the  Rev.  T.  D.  P. 
Stone,  and  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849.  He  main- 
tained a  high  rank  in  his  class,  and  his  poetical  talent  was  so 
marked  that  no  one  else  was  thought  of  as  Class  Day  Poet, 
and  Cutler  was  elected  by  acclamation.  At  Commencement 
his  part  was  an  English  poem  entitled  "  A  Corn  Song." 

After  graduating,  Cutler  for  a  few  months  served  as  assist- 
ant to  his  former  teacher,  Mr.  Stone,  who  was  then  at  the 
head  of  a  boarding-school  in  Norwich,  Connecticut.  In  the 
spring  of  1854  he  returned  to  his  native  place  and  opened  a 
private  school  which  he  kept  for  about  two  years.  In  1856 
he  took  up  his  residence  in  the  city  of  New  York  and  had 
an  appointment  on  the  editorial  staff  of  the  "  Evening  Post." 
He  afterwards  spent  several  months  as  a  teacher  in  the  school 
of  Mr.  Theodore  D.  Weld,  at  Eagleswood,  New  Jersey.  Re- 
turning to  New  York,  he  resided  from  the  autumn  of  1857 

68 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


to  the  spring  of  1858  in  the  family  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bellows, 
whose  son,  then  preparing  for  college,  was  his  pupil.  He 
subsequently  renewed  his  engagement  at  Eagleswood,  remain- 
ing there  for  more  than  a  year.  In  June,  1859,  he  visited 
Europe  and  spent  about  a  year  in  travel  and  study,  devoting 
much  attention  to  the  French  and  German  languages. 

In  1 86 1,  inspired  with  zeal  for  the  Union  cause  and  a  sense 
of  duty,  but  without  special  taste  or  qualification  for  a  mili- 
tary career,  he  busied  himself  in  raising  and  equipping  a 
company,  mostly  drawn  from  Holliston,  expending  on  it  almost 
all  that  he  possessed.  But  an  accident,  the  effects  of  which 
he  was  to  feel  for  the  remainder  of  his  life,  changed  all  his 
plans.  In  aiding  a  passing  traveller  whose  wagon  was  over- 
turned near  his  mother's  house,  he  received  a  severe  spinal 
injury,  causing  weeks  of  suffering  and  helplessness.  He  was 
so  far  convalescent  as  to  be  able  to  comply  with  the  invitation 
of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  of  Harvard  College  to  officiate 
as  Poet  of  the  Day  on  the  i8th  of  July,  1861.  The  poem  which 
he  then  read,  entitled  "  Liberty  and  Law,"  was  Cutler's  most 
conspicuous  and  most  widely  celebrated  literary  performance. 
"Both  the  oration"  (by  ex-Governor  Boutwell),  said  the 
"  Daily  Advertiser  "  next  day,  "  and  poem  were  heard  with 
rapt  attention  by  the  cultivated  audience.  Seldom,  if  ever, 
has  so  rare  a  treat  been  laid  before  the  Society  as  on  this 
occasion,  as  the  frequent  bursts  of  applause  and  the  prevalent 
emotion  at  some  passages  of  the  poem  abundantly  testified." 
"  It  was,"  says  Dr.  Andrew  P.  Peabody,  "  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end  throbbing  and  glowing  with  patriotic  feeling,  ear- 
nest, tense,  noble,  grand.  Its  effect  was  no  doubt  enhanced 
by  his  presence.  Still  feeble  from  his  late  illness,  pale,  at- 
tenuated, and  with  a  face  never  more  expressive,  animated, 
and  spiritual,  with  a  voice  slender  and  threadlike,  yet  pene- 
trating and  flowing,  he  threw  his  whole  soul  into  the  utter- 
ance." The  poem  was  printed  in  the  series  of  war  tracts  issued 
by  the  American  Unitarian  Association  and  circulated  among 
the  Union  soldiers.  It  was  adopted  by  the  Confederates,  with 
alterations  suited  to  their  purposes,  and  taken  notice  of  in 
England  as  an  exhibition  of  the  Southern  spirit.  In  his  col- 

69 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


lected  war  poems,  1867,  it  appears  with  considerable  altera- 
tion under  the  title  of  "  Reveille." 

In  1862  Cutler  opened  a  classical  school  at  Worcester,  where 
he  remained  for  two  years  with  the  most  gratifying  success. 
At  the  close  of  his  second  year  at  Worcester  he  again  em- 
barked for  Europe  and  there  devoted  another  year  to  study 
and  travel.  During  his  absence  he  was  appointed  Assistant 
Professor  of  Modern  Languages  at  Harvard.  He  entered 
upon  the  duties  of  that  office  in  September,  1865.  Partly 
owing  to  his  attachment  to  his  own  University  and  partly 
owing  to  his  ill  health,  he  did  not  avail  himself  of  oppor- 
tunities for  more  conspicuous  service  elsewhere  which  at  this 
time  were  offered,  the  Chancellorship  of  Washington  Uni- 
versity at  St.  Louis  being  one. 

To  the  Harvard  Memorial  Biographies,  published  in  1866, 
Cutler  contributed  the  life  of  Fitzhugh  Birney. 

In  1868  there  appeared  a  short  story  in  verse  by  him, 
entitled  "  Stella,"  the  story  of  a  maiden  who  died  of  grief 
for  love  unrequited,  very  gracefully  told. 

As  a  teacher  and  professor,  Cutler  seems  to  have  been 
eminently  successful.  To  quote  Dr.  Peabody  again,  "  He 
made  learning  attractive,  both  by  his  own  example  of  the 
amenities  and  graces  which  belong  to  liberal  culture,  and  by 
a  very  keen  appreciation  of  truth  and  beauty  in  thought, 
style,  and  expression,  which  won  from  his  pupils  their  ad- 
miration for  the  literature  which  he  opened  to  their  knowl- 
edge. He  understood,  too,  the  modes  of  access  to  minds  of 
various  complexions,  and  was  often  instrumental  in  awaken- 
ing capacities,  tastes,  and  susceptibilities  which  would  have 
responded  to  no  less  sympathetic  touch.  ...  No  one  has  borne 
a  more  important  or  influential  part  than  he  in  the  entire 
change  of  the  old  relations  between  teachers  and  students  in 
college,  in  replacing  the  former  distance  and  reserve,  sometimes 
approaching  hostility,  by  mutual  confidence  and  friendship." 

The  following  is  taken  from  an  appreciative  letter  from  Dr. 
Henry  W.  Bellows  to  Dr.  Peabody,  dated  December  27,  1871 : 

"Mr.  Cutler  at  the  period  I  refer  to  [1857]  was  not  a 
young  man  easy  to  understand.  He  had  a  shy  and  reserved 

70 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


nature,  a  great  natural  pride,  wholly  without  vanity  or  parade, 
a  habit  of  talking  around  subjects  with  the  aim  to  draw  out 
others'  opinions  rather  than  to  express  his  own,  a  certain 
love  of  dialectic  finesse,  and  a  disposition  to  take  the  un- 
popular and  unusual  side  of  every  question.  He  was  specially 
interested  in  religious  questions,  but  seemed  wholly  unsettled 
upon  them,  and  presented  the  aspect  of  a  puzzled  enquirer 
afraid  of  being  committed  in  advance  of  independent  con- 
sideration to  any  positive  view.  .  .  .  My  conviction  was  that 
nothing  lay  deeper  at  his  heart  than  these  topics,  and  that 
his  sensitive  and  earnest  mind  concealed,  under  badinages 
and  flighty  references,  a  serious  anxiety  to  lay  hold  on  objects 
of  faith  with  his  own  hands,  and  not  to  mistake  others' 
faiths  for  his  own  or  be  beguiled  by  acquiescence  or  au- 
thority into  what  he  craved  eagerly  to  make  wholly  his,  by 
personal  conviction  and  intellectual  and  spiritual  appropria- 
tion. .  .  .  His  atmosphere  was  pure  and  brainy,  and  it 
seemed  impossible  to  associate  anything  low  or  unworthy 
with  him.  His  health  was  never  firm  when  I  knew  him. 
Temperate,  nay,  almost  ascetic  in  his  habits,  he  was  as  frugal 
and  simple  in  his  personal  tastes  and  appetites  as  he  was 
dainty  and  fastidious  in  his  intellectual  feelings  and  pro- 
ductions. He  had  little  of  the  American  passion  for  quantity, 
and  an  immense  preference  for  quality. 

"  Mr.  Cutler  was  eminently  conscientious  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  duty  as  a  teacher;  exact,  solid,  and  helpful. 
He  won  the  love  of  my  children  and  their  full  respect  as  a 
man  and  a  teacher. 

"Of  so  delicate,  lonely,  and  peculiar  a  person  as  Mr. 
Cutler,  it  is  wholly  impossible  to  give  a  portrait  except  by  a 
thousand  hints.  He  can  be  suggested  but  not  outlined." 

Cutler  died  in  his  room  in  Hoi  worthy,  December  27,  1870, 
and  a  funeral  service  was  held  at  President  Eliot's  house. 
He  was  never  married. 

GEORGE  OSGOOD  DALTON, 

Only  son  of  TRISTRAM  and  HANNAH  R.  (BEERS)  DALTON, 
was  born  at  Woburn,  Massachusetts,  January  10,  1832.  The 

71 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


father's  name  Tristram  Dalton  is  so  unusual  a  combination 
that  it  suggests  a  possible  descent  from  the  very  eminent 
merchant  of  Newbury  who  bore  that  name  and  who  became 
one  of  the  first  two  United  States  Senators  representing 
Massachusetts  on  the  organization  of  the  Federal  govern- 
ment. He  was  a  social  leader  in  his  time,  and  rode  with  his 
barouche-and-four  attended  by  liveried  footmen,  but  lived 
to  see  his  fortune  waste  away.  He  was  of  the  Harvard 
Class  of  1755,  and  died  in  1817,  leaving  an  only  son,  Tris- 
tram Dalton  by  name. 

Dalton  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Woburn. 
In  September,  1847,  ne  began  to  prepare  for  college  at  the 
Warren  Academy,  Woburn,  then  under  the  tuition  of  Abner 
Price,  a  graduate  of  Yale,  and  was  admitted  at  Harvard  in 
1849  as  Freshman.  In  the  year  1851  he  was  absent  from 
college  nearly  six  months  on  account  of  sickness.  On  grad- 
uating in  1853  he  began  the  study  of  medicine  in  the  Harvard 
Medical  School  and  continued  it  at  the  Jefferson  Medical 
College,  Philadelphia,  where  he  took  his  degree  of  M.D. 
in  the  spring  of  1855.  He  then  began  practice  at  Summit 
Hill,  Carbon  County,  Pennsylvania.  But  he  did  not  remain 
there  long,  and  in  1856-57  was  engaged  in  teaching  at  the 
Temple  Grove  Seminary,  Saratoga;  afterwards  as  principal 
in  a  school  at  Andover,  New  Hampshire;  then  taught  in  the 
New  England  Christian  Institute  at  Oxford,  and  in  other 
places  in  New  Hampshire,  and  took  a  boys'  boarding-school 
in  Stamford,  Connecticut. 

During  the  Civil  War  Dalton  was  drafted  for  military 
duty,  not  being  then  exempt  as  a  practising  physician,  but 
on  being  examined  was  rejected  as  not  able-bodied.  After- 
wards he  applied  for  and  received  a  commission  as  Assistant 
Surgeon  in  the  same  regiment  for  which  he  had  been  drafted, 
the  23d  Connecticut,  which  went  out  to  Louisiana,  December 
13,  1862,  under  General  Banks.  He  returned  with  the  regi- 
ment, which  was  mustered  out  at  New  Haven,  September  i, 
1863,  after  having  been  engaged  at  La  Fourche  Crossing 
June  20-21,  1863,  Brashear  City  June  23,  1863,  and  Bayou 
Bceuf  June  23,  1863.  A  member  of  the  regiment  describes 

72 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


him  as  a  kind,  genial,  and  efficient  officer.  Later,  he  went 
back  as  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  in  the  Corps  d'Afrique 
of  the  United  States. 

At  this  time  he  had  a  very  extensive  practice  in  the 
United  States  General  Hospital  at  New  Orleans,  having 
under  his  care  some  three  thousand  cases  of  smallpox  alone, 
and  exhibiting  great  courage  in  freely  going  to  and  engaging 
in  professional  duties  which  had  cost  several  surgeons  their 
lives.  He  was  in  the  New  Orleans  Hospital  about  three  years. 
When  the  War  closed,  he  again  came  home,  but  soon  after 
went  into  the  service  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  at  Georgia 
Station,  No.  n,  Central  Railroad,  as  Contract  Surgeon  under 
Medical  Director  Dr.  Dellarme,  U.  S.  A.  This  position  he 
relinquished  because  of  its  isolation  and  dangers,  murders 
being  frequent  while  he  was  there.  Returning  to  his  native 
town,  he  endeavored  to  establish  himself  in  private  practice. 
He  did  not  meet  with  encouragement  and  became  thoroughly 
disheartened  by  his  want  of  success.  He  received  an  offer  to 
return  to  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  accepted  it  at  once,  and 
went  to  Albany,  Georgia,  where  under  the  same  Director  he 
remained  until  the  Bureau  was  broken  up.  His  subsequent 
history  was  one  of  attempts  to  find  something  to  do  and  of 
repeated  failures.  A  new  and  promising  business  in  the  city 
was  believed  to  be  secured  for  him  under  the  assurance  that 
a  lease  could  be  had  for  a  term  of  years  if  desired.  After  the 
transfer  was  made  it  was  found  that  the  building  in  which  the 
business  was  carried  on  was  to  be  torn  down  in  a  month. 
This  proved  to  be  the  final  blow  to  all  his  prospects,  and  in 
despair  he  ended  his  life  by  an  over-dose  of  morphine,  Feb- 
ruary 12,  1870. 

Dalton  was  of  a  gentle  nature  and  not  well  fitted  to  fight 
the  world's  rude  battles.  He  always  remembered  a  kindness, 
had  a  love  of  truth,  and  a  regard  for  the  dignity  of  his  pro- 
fession. Only  a  day  or  two  before  his  untimely  end  he  refused 
an  offer  to  engage  in  the  practice  of  medicine  with  an  irregu- 
lar practitioner,  saying,  "  I  cannot  dishonor  my  professional 
standing." 

Dr.  Dalton  was  married  to  Louisa  M.,  daughter  of  Syl- 

73 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


vaster  G.  and  Eunice  Dewey,  and  left  one  son,  George  Willie, 
born  July  9,  1867.    His  widow  died  December  24,  1878. 

JOHN    DAVES 

Was  the  eldest  son  of  JOHN  PUGH  and  ELIZABETH 
(GRAHAM)  DAVES,  and  was  born  at  New  Berne,  North  Caro- 
lina, December  24,  1831.  His  father  was  a  son  of  John  Daves, 
a  Major  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  grandson  of  John 
Daves  who  came  from  Wales.  His  mother  was  a  third  wife, 
and  was  the  daughter  of  Edward  Graham,  a  lawyer,  whose 
father  came  from  Scotland. 

Daves  studied  at  the  Academy  at  New  Berne  until  he  went, 
at  about  fifteen  years  of  age,  to  Scuppernong,  North  Carolina, 
where  he  spent  a  year  in  the  family  of  his  cousin,  Josiah  Col- 
lins, under  the  charge  of  a  private  tutor.  In  1848  he  entered 
the  Freshman  class  at  St.  James  College,  Maryland,  and  there 
he  remained  one  year.  In  1849  ne  entered  the  Freshman  class 
at  Harvard  College.  He  left  college  on  account  of  ill  health 
at  the  end  of  the  first  term  Junior,  and  returned  at  the  end  of 
the  second,  to  pass  the  examinations  with  his  classmates,  but 
was  unable  to  join  the  class  afterwards  except  at  Commence- 
ment, when  he  received  his  degree  notwithstanding  his  absence, 
and  united  with  the  class  in  their  parting  ceremonies. 

Daves  was  an  excellent  specimen  of  the  well-bred  Southerner 
of  good  family.  "  He  was  full  of  Southern  fire,  but  evidently 
uneasy  under  Massachusetts  skies."  He  was  not  intimately 
known  by  many  of  his  classmates,  but  was  loved  and  at  his 
early  death  sincerely  mourned  by  the  circle  of  his  immediate 
friends,  one  of  whom,  of  the  Class  of  1852,  wrote:  "  Uniting 
to  perfect  rectitude  both  warmth  and  refined  elegance  of  man- 
ner, and  displaying  at  the  same  time  in  social  intercourse  un- 
usual brilliancy  of  thought  and  language,  he  could  not  but 
win  the  unfeigned  admiration  of  all  casual  acquaintances. 
His  friends  will  probably  see  in  the  two  words  '  Christian 
gentleman*  the  truest  description  of  their  deeply  regretted 
friend."  As  a  staunch  and  scrupulous  Episcopalian,  Daves 
was  one  of  the  few  students  who,  by  permission,  attended 
morning  and  evening  prayers  at  the  house  of  Dr.  Nicholas 

74 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Hoppin,  Rector  of  Christ  Church,  in  place  of  the  regular 
Chapel  services.  He  was  a  genial  companion,  handsome  and 
engaging  in  his  person,  and  his  singing  of  some  of  the  old 
English  ballads  was  an  experience  that  lingered  in  the  memory. 
After  graduation,  Daves  studied  law  privately  at  Scupper- 
nong  for  one  year,  and  then  was  obliged  to  abandon  it  on 
account  of  the  failure  of  his  health.  From  that  time  he  con- 
tinued to  fail  until  he  died,  unmarried,  of  consumption,  at 
Beaufort,  South  Carolina,  in  his  twenty-fourth  year,  October 
i,  1855- 

WILLIAM    SIDNEY   DAVIS, 

Second  son  of  WILLIAM  E.  and  ALMIRA  L.  (SHERMAN) 
DAVIS,  was  born  at  Northborough,  Massachusetts,  on  Febru- 
ary n,  1832.  By  the  death  of  his  father  on  Christmas  Day, 
1836,  he  was  left  to  the  care  of  a  fond  mother  who  had  a  high 
estimate  of  his  abilities,  and  it  was  early  determined  that  he 
should  be  sent  to  college,  and,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  various 
and  miserable  were  the  places  of  instruction  to  which  he  was 
sent  to  prepare  himself/'  In  the  summer  of  1845  ms  mother 
married  Mr.  Israel  C.  Rice,  of  Boston.  He  then  entered  the 
Boston  Latin  School,  and  in  1849  was  admitted  at  Harvard 
as  Freshman.  His  Commencement  part  was  an  English 
poem,  "  Joan  of  Arc." 

Davis  wrote,  for  the  Harvard  Memorial  Biographies,  the 
life  of  Samuel  Foster  Haven. 

He  studied  law  at  Worcester  in  the  office  of  G.  C.  B.  Davis 
and  Elijah  B.  Stoddard,  from  November,  1853,  to  March, 
1855.  For  the  latter  portion  of  this  time,  from  March,  1854, 
till  March,  1855,  he  was  also  a  student  in  the  Harvard  Law 
School.  He  resumed  his  studies  in  the  Worcester  office  of 
George  F.  Hoar,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  at  Worcester, 
September  n,  1855,  where  he  began  practice. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  years  he  found  himself  connected 
with  important  interests  which  rendered  a  longer  continu- 
ance in  practice  at  the  Bar  undesirable.  He  was  Secretary,  and 
afterwards  President,  of  the  Bay  State  Fire  Insurance  Com- 
pany of  Worcester,  which  came  to  an  end  in  consequence  of 

75 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


losses  sustained  in  the  great  Boston  fire  of  1872.  His  recog- 
nized abilities  were  such,  however,  that  he  was  not  allowed  to 
remain  unemployed.  He  was  at  once  appointed  Receiver  of 
the  Bay  State  Company,  and,  before  that  duty  was  fully  dis- 
charged, was  called  to  the  service  of  the  National  Board  of 
Underwriters  in  a  very  influential  capacity.  While  in  that 
service,  he  was  offered  and  accepted  the  position  of  Vice- 
President  of  the  Insurance  Company  of  North  America,  one 
of  the  oldest  and  largest  corporations  of  its  kind  in  the 
country,  and  then  went  to  reside  at  Philadelphia.  Of  this 
company  he  was  a  trusted  and  honored  officer,  employed  in  its 
most  important  negotiations  and  maintaining  a  very  extensive 
correspondence  with  all  its  representatives  throughout  the 
country.  When  in  1875  his  health  began  to  fail,  a  long  vaca- 
tion was  granted  him  by  the  directors  without  abatement  of 
salary.  He  passed  the  winter  of  1875-76  in  travelling  through 
England,  France,  and  Italy,  and  returned  much  benefited  in 
the  spring  of  1876.  His  health,  however,  was  never  fully  re- 
stored, and  for  the  rest  of  his  life  the  steady,  slow  decline 
went  on.  In  the  year  1880  his  health  gave  way  entirely,  he 
gave  up  business  and  went  to  live  at  Westport,  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain.  Here  he  remained  until  1885,  when  he  returned  to 
Worcester,  and  died  there  March  8,  1886.  During  the  entire 
period  of  his  last  illness  the  Insurance  Company  of  North 
America  paid  him  a  handsome  yearly  allowance,  the  highest 
tribute  to  his  character,  ability,  and  fidelity  from  those  in 
the  best  position  to  know  and  appreciate  them. 

His  general  scholarship  and  fine  declamation  and  his  per- 
sonal popularity,  which  had  made  him  conspicuous  at  the 
Latin  School,  still  gave  him  the  hold  on  his  Harvard  Class 
which  engaging  manners  and  a  frank  nature  do  not  fail  to 
insure.  He  took,  in  the  Senior  year,  the  First  Boylston  Prize 
in  Declamation,  and  when  the  assignment  of  the  Class  Day 
Honors  came  to  be  made,  while  there  was  but  one  possible 
Poet,  the  choice  of  Orator  was  contested  by  Davis.  He  was, 
for  a  time,  with  a  group  of  Harvard  men  in  Washington  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  War,  and  there  joined  with  A.  S.  Hill, 
Washburn,  George  Bliss,  and  William  Emerson  of  the  Law 

76 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


School,  in  contributing  articles  to  the  daily  press  and  to 
Appleton's  Cyclopaedia,  then  in  process  of  issue.  Doubtless 
his  desertion  of  law  practice,  where  his  oratorical  faculty  would 
have  served  him  well,  for  insurance,  which,  like  diplomacy, 
is  a  silent  craft,  was  influenced  to  some  extent  by  the  fact  that 
his  wife's  father  was,  at  that  day,  one  of  the  great  insurance 
magnates  of  New  England. 

Davis  married,  on  January  i,  1862,  Anna  M.,  daughter  of 
George  W.  and  Lucy  Davis  (White)  Richardson.  One 
daughter,  Lucy,  married  first  to  Wm.  Hobbs  Manning  (H.  U. 
1882)  and  secondly  to  J.  H.  Dearbergh  of  Florence,  Italy, 
was  born  of  this  marriage.  Both  wife  and  daughter  survived 
him. 

MOSES    HENRY   DAY, 

Son  of  MOSES  and  SARAH  G.  (SESSIONS)  DAY,  was  born 
at  Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  July  9,  1832. 

He  was  prepared  for  college  at  the  Roxbury  Latin  School, 
and  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849.  His  college 
course  was  interrupted  by  an  absence  of  twelve  weeks  in  the 
second  term  Sophomore  owing  to  illness  (a  part  of  the 
time  being  spent  in  farming  at  Oakham)  and  another  of  six 
weeks  in  the  first  term  Junior,  when  he  was  keeping  school 
at  Taunton. 

Immediately  after  graduation  he  became  identified  with  the 
large  cordage  manufactory  with  which  his  father  was  long 
connected  as  a  partner,  and  when,  in  1880,  a  company  was 
organized  to  carry  on  the  business  under  the  name  of  the 
Sewall  and  Day  Cordage  Company,  he  became  its  President 
and  held  the  office  until  his  death. 

He  was  elected  a  director  in  the  People's  Bank  on  October 
27,  1862,  and  when,  in  1864,  that  institution  was  merged 
in  the  People's  National  Bank  of  Roxbury,  he  was  continued 
as  Director  and  held  the  office  until  1881.  He  was  President 
of  the  Institution  for  Savings  in  Roxbury  from  December 
19,  1877,  to  December  15,  1880,  and  for  one  year  thereafter 
was  a  Trustee.  He  was  an  active  member  of  the  Highland 
Congregational  Church,  in  the  work  of  which  he  took  a  great 

77 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


interest.  He  was  a  valued  officer  in  the  City  Government 
of  Roxbury.  As  an  employer  he  was  considerate  of  those 
working  for  him  and  was  a  great  favorite  among  them.  His 
generous  nature  manifested  itself  in  many  acts  of  unosten- 
tatious benevolence,  and  created  many  kindly  memories  in 
the  large  circle  in  which  he  moved. 

He  died  of  Bright's  disease,  on  January  17,  1882,  after  a 
long  illness. 

He  was  married,  on  November  29,  1855,  to  Sarah  Frances 
Brown,  daughter  of  Nathan  and  Ann  Haggett  Brown.  His 
widow  and  seven  children  survived  him,  their  names  and 
dates  of  birth  being  as  follows:  Sarah  Louise,  September  9, 
1857;  Moses  Henry,  March  18,  1860;  Annie  Frances,  Novem- 
ber 22,  1861;  Carrie  Elisabeth,  April  8,  1865;  Chester  Ses- 
sions, January  15,  1867;  Sarah  Grosvenor,  September  30, 
1868;  Nathan  Brown,  August  29,  1870. 

WILLIAM    EDWARD    DORSHEIMER, 

Who  seems  to  have  dropped  his  middle  name  later,  was 
horn  at  Lyons,  New  York,  February  5,  1832.  His  father  was 
PHILIP  DORSHEIMER,  German  born ;  once,  under  a  Democratic 
regime,  Postmaster  of  Buffalo;  later  a  prominent  and  early 
Republican  politician,  in  1860  elected  Treasurer  of  the  State. 
In  New  York  Democrats  with  antislavery  leanings  were  called 
"  barn-burners."  They  were  taxed  by  their  opponents  with 
being  ready  to  destroy  the  fabric  of  the  Union,  if  only  they 
might  be  rid  of  slavery.  This,  it  was  held,  was  as  great  a 
folly  as  burning  the  barn  to  get  the  rats  out.  The  "  barn- 
burner "  movement  culminated  in  1848,  when  Martin  Van 
Buren  of  New  York,  a  former  Democratic  President  and  pro- 
tege of  Jackson,  was  nominated  for  reelection  to  the  Presi- 
dency on  an  antislavery  platform. 

In  1849  young  Dorsheimer  joined  the  Freshman  class  at 
Harvard,  coming  from  Phillips  Andover  Academy,  and,  while 
his  college  course  continued  but  a  year,  made  himself  so  well 
known  in  the  years  immediately  after  that,  before  the  War, 
as  early  as  1859,  the  University  recognized  him  with  its  hon- 
orary degree  of  A.M.  He  studied  law  in  Buffalo  and  had  been 

78 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


admitted  to  the  New  York  Bar  in  1854.  He  took  an  active 
part  in  the  State  Campaign  of  1854,  supporting  Seymour  for 
Governor  and  making  his  first  political  address.  He  next 
joined  the  Republican  movement  and  supported  Fremont 
warmly  in  1856.  In  1858  he  printed  two  striking  reviews  in 
the  "  Atlantic  Monthly  "  magazine,  criticising  Parton's  lives 
of  Jefferson  and  of  Aaron  Burr.  His  Harvard  degree  followed 
the  next  year.  In  1860  he  voted  for  Lincoln  and  labored  for 
his  success. 

In  1 86 1  he  joined  the  staff  of  Fremont  with  the  rank  of 
Major,  and  contributed,  soon  after,  to  the  "  Atlantic  Monthly  " 
three  spirited  articles  describing  experiences  of  the  "  Hundred 
Days'  Campaign  in  Missouri,"  in  which  he  bore  a  part.  He 
was  well  fitted  to  adorn  a  military  group  of  which  Gryerson 
has  said :  "  Fremont  had  surrounded  himself  like  a  great 
potentate  with  satellites  and  guards,  and  had  a  more  showy 
court  than  any  real  king."  In  these  papers  Dorsheimer 
championed  both  the  military  and  the  political  course  of  his 
Chief,  who  was  then  aspiring  to  be  a  liberator,  as  well  as 
a  Path-finder. 

Johnson  appointed  him,  in  1867,  United  States  District 
Attorney  for  the  Northern  District  of  New  York.  In  1872 
he  supported  the  anti-Grant  movement,  and  was  a  delegate 
in  the  Convention  which  nominated  Greeley,  and  on  his  re- 
turn to  Buffalo  made  the  first  ratification  speech  uttered  in 
support  of  his  candidate.  In  1874  he  was  elected,  running 
ahead  of  his  ticket,  and,  until  1880,  reflected,  as  a  Democrat, 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  New  York,  bearing  a  full  share  in 
the  Tilden  Reform  Administration.  As  Lieutenant-Governor, 
he  was,  ex-officio,  President  of  the  Senate,  Commissioner  of 
the  Land  Office  and  of  the  Canal  Fund,  and  a  Regent  of  the 
University.  During  these  five  years  three  of  the  State 
Senates  over  which  he  was  called  to  preside  were  not  politi- 
cally in  touch  with  him.  Soon  after  the  beginning  of  his 
first  term  as  Lieutenant-Governor,  he  became  an  ardent  sup- 
porter of  Governor  Tilden,  particularly  in  the  latter 's  war- 
fare upon  the  Canal  Ring.  In  1876  he  was  a  Delegate,  as  the 
friend  of  Tilden,  to  the  St.  Louis  Democratic  Convention,  and 

79 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


mad.e  a  brave  stand  against  fiat  money.  He  was,  this  year, 
strongly  supported  for  Governor  of  New  York.  He  was  a 
leading  advocate  of  Governor  Tilden's  nomination  for  the 
Presidency  and  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Committee 
on  Resolutions,  says  the  "  Buffalo  Courier "  of  March  28, 
1888,  in  announcing  his  death,  "  rapidly  acquiring  a  National 
reputation.  He  reported  the  platform  to  the  Convention  and 
earnestly  defended  its  declaration  in  favor  of  honest  money. 
In  the  memorable  campaign  of  that  year,  Mr.  Dorsheimer  took 
a  conspicuous  and  honorable  part."  During  his  second  term 
as  Lieutenant-Governor  he  became  estranged  from  Tilden,  re- 
moved to  New  York  and  joined  Tammany  Hall.  In  1880 
Mr.  Dorsheimer  took  part  in  the  campaign  for  Hancock.  In 
1882  he  was  chosen  to  Congress  from  one  of  the  New  York 
City  Districts,  and  assigned  to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  and 
he  was  made  Chairman  of  a  Committee  charged  with  com- 
pleting the  Washington  Monument.  He  became  Chairman  of 
the  State  Commission  on  the  Niagara  Reservation.  In  1884 
he  produced  a  Campaign  Biography  of  Grover  Cleveland.  The 
next  year  he  was  appointed  United  States  District  Attorney 
for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York  —  a  position  which  he 
resigned  in  1886  to  become  the  proprietor  and  editor  of  the 
"  Star  "  newspaper,  an  influential  supporter  of  the  Cleveland 
administration.  To  have  filled  the  responsible  post  of  United 
States  Attorney  for  the  Buffalo  District  of  New  York  so  ac- 
ceptably as  to  be  named  by  President  Cleveland  for  United 
States  Attorney  for  the  Metropolitan  District  of  New  York 
is  evidence  that  his  brilliant  parts  were  no  vox  et  prceterea 
nihil.  "  Mr.  Dorsheimer/'  says  the  "  Courier,"  "  will  be  re- 
membered as  one  of  the  ablest,  best  equipped,  and  most  elo- 
quent public  men  of  the  period  during  which  he  was  conspicu- 
ously connected  with  our  political  affairs.  During  the  many 
years  of  his  residence  in  this  city  he  was  actively  interested 
in  important  public  undertakings.  He  took  a  prominent  part 
in  the  movement  that  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  Buffalo 
Park,  and  he  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Buffalo  Histori- 
cal Society  and  of  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy."  He  had 
travelled  widely  at  home  and  abroad.  He  died,  March  26, 

60 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


1888,  while  visiting  Savannah,  Georgia,  and  his  death  was 
noticed  with  marked  honors  by  the  Bar  of  Erie  County  and 
by  the  city  of  Buffalo. 

Dorsheimer  was  equipped  with  all  the  showy  qualities  which 
make  a  public  career  easy  of  achievement.  He  seemed  to 
model  himself  on  "  Prince  John  "  Van  Buren.  His  stature 
was  worthy  of  a  drum-major,  added  to  which  an  easy  and 
exhaustless  flow  of  speech  and  a  capacity  for  elegant  and 
effective  off-hand  public  address,  made  him  welcome  in  Fan- 
euil  Hall,  and  later  in  the  stormy  gatherings  of  New  York 
City.  There  was  a  quality  about  his  performances  which 
was  entirely  unique.  His  delivery  was  fine,  and  he  did  not 
stint  himself  in  the  matter  of  preparation,  though  he  spent 
little  time  over  text-books.  His  masterly  exposition  in  one 
of  the  clubs  of  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan's  arraignment  of 
Warren  Hastings  no  student  who  was  privileged  to  listen 
to  it  ever  could  forget.  Even  in  the  recitation  rooms  at 
Harvard  his  powers  of  expression  never  played  him  false.  He 
often  said  that  it  was  foolish  for  the  student  to  admit,  when 
called  upon  to  recite,  that  he  was  unprepared  with  anything 
to  say.  The  true  course  was  to  rise  with  confidence  and, 
evading  the  question  which  would  have  betrayed  his  ignorance, 
proceed  to  talk  upon  some  other  topic  where  he  felt  at  ease. 
He  declared  that  he  could  make  a  stump-speech  which  would 
serve  his  purpose  in  any  course  but  mathematics.  In  Peirce's 
class-room  he  was  silent.  He  was  as  mature  in  looks  when  he 
came  to  Cambridge  at  the  age  of  seventeen  —  wearing  a  heavy 
beard,  and  addressing  the  college  clubs  in  a  sonorous  and  effec- 
tive bass  voice  and  very  ably  —  as  is  the  average  man  of  forty. 
In  youth  his  figure  was  a  model,  and  his  presence  altogether 
dignified  and  manly. 

ATWOOD    HARLOW    DREW, 

Eldest  son  of  ATWOOD  Louis  and  JANE  (HARLOW)  DREW, 
was  born  at  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  on  September  5,  1833. 
He  received  his  early  education  and  his  preparation  for  col- 
lege in  his  native  town;  entered  college  as  Freshman  in  1849 
and  graduated  regularly  in  1853.  He  was  employed  in  mer- 

81 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


cantile  business  and  died  at  Boston  of  consumption  on  March 
29,  1889.    He  was  never  married. 

ORMOND  HORACE  BUTTON, 

Son  of  ORMOND  and  MARY  (DORR)  BUTTON,  was  born, 
May  24,  1829,  at  Windsor,  Vermont,  where  his  father  then 
lived.  His  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Captain  Joseph  Dorr, 
of  Keene,  New  Hampshire. 

The  family  having  subsequently  moved  to  Boston,  he  en- 
tered the  Boston  Latin  School  in  1845,  an<^  joined  the  class 
which  had  entered  in  the  previous  year.  He  did  not  go  im- 
mediately from  school  to  college,  but  continued  his  studies 
under  the  private  instruction  of  Mr.  William  P.  Atkinson, 
and  entered  Harvard  as  Sophomore  in  1850.  On  leaving 
college  in  1853  he  began  the  study  of  the  law,  which  he 
pursued  partly  in  the  Boston  office  of  William  Brigham,  Esq., 
and  partly  at  the  Harvard  Law  School,  where  he  was  a 
student  in  the  years  1854  and  1855.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
Bar  July  7,  1856.  In  1857  ne  went  abroad  for  a  year  of 
travel,  but  the  financial  troubles  of  the  time  affected  his 
father's  business,  and  the  necessity  of  retrenchment  hastened 
his  return.  Never  having  had  much  taste  for  the  law,  he  now 
turned  to  journalism,  and  in  1858  became  associated  with 
Mr.  George  S.  Hillard  in  the  editorship  of  the  "  Boston 
Courier."  This  position  he  left  in  the  autumn  of  1860  to 
accept  one  in  the  office  of  the  "  New  York  Tribune,"  and  the 
latter  he  held  until  the  time  of  Mr.  Charles  A.  Dana's  separa- 
tion from  that  paper.  Being  one  of  his  corps,  he  went  out 
with  him.  During  the  latter  part  of  his  connection  with  the 
"  Tribune  "  he  acted  as  its  Washington  correspondent,  and 
the  very  severe  work  which  was  required  of  him  at  this  ex- 
acting period,  when  war  was  breaking  out,  bore  so  heavily 
upon  him  that  his  health  never  fully  recovered  from  the 
strain. 

Circumstances  having  turned  his  attention  to  the  ministry 
of  the  Episcopal  Church,  he  was  confirmed  in  1861,  and 
immediately  began  his  theological  studies  under  Drs.  Muhlen- 
burg  and  Cruse.  In  the  interval  between  leaving  the  "  Trib- 

82 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


une  "  office  and  entering  upon  the  work  of  the  ministry,  he 
was  for  a  time  in  the  office  of  the  "  Evening  Post "  and  also 
in  that  of  the  "  Journal  of  Commerce."  In  addition,  he  edited 
Captain  Hall's  "  Life  among  the  Esquimaux,"  and  contrib- 
uted to  Appleton's  Cyclopedia.  He  was  ordained  Deacon  in 
New  York  on  December  20,  1863,  and,  from  his  ordination 
to  May  15,  1864,  acted  as  Assistant  at  St.  Peter's,  Brooklyn. 
In  October  following  he  received  a  call  to  become  Rector  of 
St.  Paul's,  Holyoke,  Massachusetts,  and  was  ordained  Priest, 
in  St.  Thomas's  Church,  Ravenswood,  Long  Island,  on  No- 
vember 13,  1864.  After  a  year's  service  at  Holyoke  he  re- 
signed his  Rectorship  and  was  re-transferred  to  the  diocese 
of  New  York,  where,  on  April  i,  1866,  he  became  Assistant 
at  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion,  New  York  City.  In 
1867  he  went  to  Trinity  Church  to  take  Dr.  Ogilby's  place 
during  his  absence.  He  was  elected  permanent  Assistant  of 
Trinity  Parish  on  May  i,  1867,  as  successor  for  life  to  Dr. 
Neely,  appointed  Bishop  of  Maine.  A  few  months  of  vigorous 
work,  of  increased  physical  strength,  and  of  bright  hope  were 
brought  to  a  close  by  a  sudden  and  violent  attack  of  bron- 
chitis, which  terminated  in  a  rapid  consumption.  He  was 
hurried  abroad  with  a  view  of  reaching  Egypt,  but  continu- 
ing to  fail  he  went  no  further  than  Hyeres  in  the  South  of 
France,  where  he  died  on  March  15,  1868. 

He  married,  on  May  13,  1863,  a  widow,  Mrs.  Alice  E. 
Boteler,  but  there  were  no  children  from  this  union. 

Resolutions  passed  at  a  meeting  of  the  Clergy  of  Trinity 
Church,  on  occasion  of  receiving  the  intelligence  of  the  death 
of  their  colleague,  bore  testimony,  not  only  to  their  respect 
and  esteem  for  him  as  a  man,  a  Christian,  and  a  pastor,  but 
also  to  his  sincerity,  his  courtesy,  his  intense  interest  in  his 
ministerial  work,  his  unsparing  devotion  of  himself  to  its 
requirements,  his  deep  religious  character. 

GEORGE    RUSSELL   DWELLEY, 

Eldest  son  of  LEMUEL  and  SARAH  JACOBS  (BAILEY) 
DWELLEY,  was  born  at  Hanover,  Massachusetts,  December 
5,  1830.  On  his  mother's  side  he  was  descended  from  Elder 

83 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Brewster  of  Plymouth,  and  from  John  Bailey,  Colonel  of 
the  2d  Massachusetts  Regiment  in  the  Continental  Army,  and 
from  John  Jacobs,  also  a  Colonel  in  the  Revolution.  On  his 
father's  side  he  had  an  ancestor,  Richard  Dwelley,  a  soldier 
in  King  Philip's  War,  who  received  a  grant  of  land  in  Han- 
over, and  he  had  also  a  great-grandfather,  Joshua  Dwelley, 
who  served  as  Lieutenant  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 

His  early  education  was  received  in  his  native  town,  in 
the  schools  and  the  Academy,  the  latter  then  under  the  charge 
of  Cyrus  Holmes,  an  alumnus  of  Dartmouth,  and  it  was  sup- 
plemented also  by  two  years  of  private  instruction  from  that 
teacher.  At  sixteen  he  left  home  for  Phillips  Academy, 
Andover,  where  he  studied  for  a  year  and  a  half  under 
Messrs.  Aiken  and  Taylor. 

He  entered  Yale  University  as  Freshman  in  1849.  His 
college  course  was  somewhat  checkered.  A  prize  for  Latin 
Composition,  and  the  award  of  a  part  at  the  Junior  Exhibi- 
tion, were  evidence  of  scholarship;  his  election  to  be  Poet 
at  the  Sophomore  Festivity,  and  by  the  Literary  Society, 
and  the  general  expectation  that  he  would  be  Class  Poet  at 
Class  Day,  testify  to  the  consideration  in  which  he  was  held 
by  his  classmates;  but  his  conduct  did  not  in  all  respects 
meet  with  the  approval  of  the  Faculty,  and  the  result  was  his 
migration  from  Yale  to  Harvard,  where  he  joined  the  Senior 
class  in  September,  1852.  In  the  winter  of  that  year  Rantoul 
and  he  both  taught  district  schools  in  Pembroke,  the  town 
adjoining  Hanover. 

Immediately  after  graduation  he  availed  himself  of  an 
opportunity  to  teach,  and  became  Head  Master  of  a  boys' 
boarding-school  at  Pembroke,  Massachusetts,  expecting  to 
continue  in  that  occupation  but  a  year  or  two,  when,  finding 
that  he  was  successful  and  enjoyed  the  work,  he  made  it  his 
profession.  He  gave  up  the  Pembroke  school  early  in  1855, 
and  was  elected  Town  Clerk,  Treasurer,  and  School  Com- 
mitteeman  .in  his  native  town  of  Hanover,  where  he  had 
maintained  a  residence.  At  the  same  time  he  taught  there 
in  a  school  where  high-school  branches  were  taught.  The 
official  work  interfering  with  that  of  the  school,  he  dropped 

84 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


the  former  at  the  end  of  the  first  year,  resuming  after  a 
year's  interval  a  place  on  the  School  Committee  and  holding 
it  for  a  year.  In  1858  he  became  Principal  of  the  High 
School  at  East  Abington,  Massachusetts,  since  Rockland,  and 
continued  there  till  1862,  when  he  accepted  a  similar  position 
at  Watertown,  Massachusetts.  This  he  held  for  the  next 
four  years. 

He  left  Watertown  in  May,  1866,  to  recover  from  the 
effect  of  over-work,  and  went  in  search  of  health  to  Eagle 
Harbor  in  Northern  Michigan,  where  he  took  a  business 
position  as  cashier  in  the  employ  of  the  Copper  Falls  Mining 
Company  of  Keweenaw  County.  While  there  he  was  elected 
Township  Clerk,  and  held  the  office  of  County  Superintendent 
of  Schools  for  two  years,  from  1869  to  1871.  Going  into 
local  politics,  for  the  sake  of  effecting  certain  economical 
reforms  in  the  public  service,  he  brought  about  a  reduction 
of  the  tax  on  the  corporation  he  served  from  $2800  to  $1100 
and  on  individual  taxes  in  proportion.  Health  being  restored, 
he  accepted  an  invitation  to  resume  his  position  of  Principal 
of  the  High  School  at  Watertown,  which  he  did  in  September, 
1871  — a  position  which  he  resigned  in  1874  to  take  up  the 
receivership  of  the  Mechanics'  Savings  Bank  of  Boston,  then 
in  liquidation.  In  1877,  concurrently  with  the  work  of  the 
receivership,  he  assumed  the  duty  of  Principal  of  the  High 
School  of  Lexington,  Massachusetts.  In  1881,  at  the  close 
of  these  functions,  he  was  again  invited  to  teach  at  Water- 
town.  During  the  second  year  of  his  third  engagement  at 
Watertown,  the  school  authorities  of  Woburn,  Fitchburg,  and 
Lynn  respectively  sought  to  secure  his  services  for  their  High 
Schools.  Those  of  Watertown  at  the  end  of  this  second  year, 
in  1883,  in  order  to  retain  him,  made  him  both  Principal  of  the 
High  School  and  Superintendent  of  the  other  schools.  This 
office  of  Superintendent  he  held  for  fourteen  years  and,  dur- 
ing a  part  of  the  time,  that  of  Principal  of  the  High  School 
also.  In  one  year,  while  he  was  Superintendent  at  Water- 
town,  he  was  also  Superintendent  at  Groton.  In  1896  the 
Watertown  School  Committee  separated  the  offices  of  Super- 
intendent and  Principal,  and  gave  him  the  choice  between 

85 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


them.  He  chose  that  of  Superintendent,  as  that  of  Groton 
was  at  his  command,  through  the  recommendation  of  the 
Massachusetts  Board  of  Education,  and  from  September,  1896, 
to  September,  1897,  he  was  at  Watertown  three  days  in  the 
week  and  at  Groton  two  days.  In  the  latter  year  he  suffered 
severely  from  disease  of  the  heart,  and  was  liable  to  become 
unconscious  in  any  place.  The  last  time  he  was  attacked  was 
at  a  teachers'  meeting  at  Watertown,  and  he  abandoned  all 
work  at  the  close  of  this  official  year.  With  the  rest  and 
quiet  that  followed,  his  lapses  into  unconsciousness  diminished 
in  frequency  but  left  him  a  chronic  invalid,  seldom  away  from 
bed  or  couch  more  than  half  an  hour  at  a  time.  He  died 
April  13,  1907. 

Dwelley  graduated  first  scholar  at  Andover,  where  he  had 
Ammidown  and  his  close  friend  Dorsheimer  for  classmates. 
He  had  the  poet  Stedman  as  his  room-mate  for  one  year  at 
Yale,  and  the  Confederate  General  Marmaduke,  sometime 
Governor  of  Missouri,  for  another  year.  Charles  Sumner  was 
a  remote  cousin.  Dwelley  never  quite  identified  himself  with 
the  Class  of  '53,  though  holding  agreeable  relations  with 
single  members  of  it,  but  rather  spoke  of  himself  as  a 
"  Diploma-man  "  and  as  a  "  quarter-part  member/'  having 
been  with  the  class  only  in  the  Senior  year  —  often  said  that 
he  felt  he  was  "  in  it  but  not  of  it,"  and  held  himself  aloof 
from  class  gatherings  wholly.  His  college  ties  were  formed 
at  Yale  and  did  not  yield  to  Harvard  associations.  He  was 
a  good  deal  of  an  optimist  and  could  write,  after  being  dis- 
abled for  ten  years  by  physical  conditions  which  would  have 
served  most  men  as  an  apology  for  despair,  that  he  "  enjoyed 
life  thoroughly,"  and  that  he  awoke  from  his  periods  of 
torpor  cheerful  and  ready  for  the  future,  whether  it  be  in 
this  world  or  the  next.  The  mens  sana,  though  not  in  cor  pore 
sano,  taught  him  to  find  his  enjoyments  in  the  solid  things 
of  life.  He  said  he  had  married,  when  in  mature  years  — 
old  enough  to  know  what  he  wanted  in  a  wife  —  the  woman 
he  wanted.  She  was  much  his  junior,  and  cheered  his  de- 
clining years  with  a  devotion  that  was  ideal. 

Dwelley  was  married,  June  4,  1868,  to  Florence  G.,  daugh- 

86 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


ter  of  John  Spencer  and  Lydia  Ann  (Hardison)  Pinkham. 
Their  children  were:  Gertrude  Florence,  born  October  31, 
1869;  Dora  Louise,  born  January  10,  1878;  Grace  Russell, 
born  January  14,  1881 ;  Charles  Theodore,  born  November 
10,  1883;  George  Merriam,  born  September  3,  1886. 

WILDER    DWIGHT, 

Second  son  of  WILLIAM  DWIGHT  and  ELIZA  AMELIA 
(WHITE)  DWIGHT,  daughter  of  Daniel  A.  White,  Judge  of 
Probate  for  Essex  County  1815-53,  was  born  April  23,  1833, 
at  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  of  sound  New  England  stock, 
distinguished  in  colonial  wars  and  in  civil  life.  Of  his  grand- 
fathers one  was  of  the  Harvard  Class  of  1793  and  one  of  that 
of  1797. 

As  a  boy  he  exhibited  the  traits  of  character  which  made 
him  remarkable  in  after  life  —  great  seriousness,  tenacity  of 
purpose,  and  uncommon  maturity  of  reflection.  At  fifteen 
he  wrote :  "  No  man  ever  did  anything  in  this  world,  however 
trifling,  unless  he  felt  confident  of  his  ability  to  do  it,  and 
unless  he  entered  upon  it  with  a  cheerful  and  firm  determina- 
tion to  accomplish  his  end,  let  come  what  will  come."  This 
was  the  keynote  of  his  career. 

He  was  prepared  for  college  at  Phillips  Exeter  Academy, 
with  a  period  of  six  months  spent  at  the  military  school  of 
Z.  J.  D.  Kinsley,  near  West  Point,  but  his  military  schooling 
inspired  no  taste  for  the  military  profession.  On  leaving,  he 
wrote,  "  I  shall  never  evince  any  desire  hereafter  to  shoulder 
a  musket  or  wear  a  sword."  He  entered  the  Freshman  class 
at  Harvard  in  1849,  and  took  and  uniformly  maintained  high 
rank  as  a  student.  Devotion  to  study  did  not,  however,  pre- 
vent him  from  taking  part  in  and  heartily  enjoying  the  amuse- 
ments, literary  and  social,  of  college  life.  The  Presidency  of 
the  Hasty  Pudding  Club  is  an  indication  of  his  popularity, 
but  it  must  fairly  be  added  that  the  masterful  spirit  and  con- 
sciousness of  power  which  he  exhibited  stood  somewhat  in 
the  way  of  his  becoming  a  "  universal  favorite."  The  award 
of  the  jack-knife  by  the  class  at  graduation  was  intended  for 
a  playful  reminder  that  his  bumptiousness  was  appreciated. 

87 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


The  religious  impressions  disclosed  in  a  diary  kept  while 
in  college,  but  read  by  no  one  but  himself  before  his  death, 
appear  to  have  been  deeply  serious  and  much  influenced  by 
the  weighty  sermons  of  Dr.  Walker,  of  which  he  took  notes. 

His  part  at  Commencement  was  an  English  oration  on 
"  Language  the  Expression  of  Character." 

On  leaving  college  he  entered  the  Harvard  Law  School, 
and  took  his  degree  of  LL.B.  in  regular  course  in  1855,  after 
gaining  the  first  prize  for  an  essay  upon  "  The  Husband's 
Power  over  the  Choses  in  Action  of  the  Wife." 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that,  with  his  ardor  for  an 
active  life,  he  should  have  been  willing  to  spend  the  next 
fourteen  months  in  foreign  travel.  In  fact,  while  abroad  and 
after  his  return,  he  had  misgivings  as  to  the  usefulness  of 
that  occupation,  and  the  "  expansion  of  mind  "  supposed  to 
result  therefrom,  but  whatever  he  did  he  did  with  vigor,  and 
travelling  was  no  exception.  Writing  from  Madrid,  he  said: 
"  What  a  stimulus  being  on  the  spot  is !  ...  I  write  and 
think  about  whatever  I  can,  keep  my  eyes  open,  my  mind  alive, 
and  my  body  active  There  is  no  discipline  better  for  the  de- 
velopment of  energy,  physical  and  mental,  than  vigorous 
travelling."  This  may  be  true,  but  the  development  of  energy 
is  not  the  usual  aim  and  object  of  the  average  tourist. 

His  course  was  through  England  and  Germany  to  Switzer- 
land, where  the  combined  inflictions  of  a  mule-kick  and  of 
typhoid  fever  laid  him  up  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Giess- 
bach  —  an  illness  relieved  by  the  care  and  attention  qf  three 
Harvard  friends.  Paris  and  Spain  followed ;  then  Italy,  Con- 
stantinople, and  the  Crimea  —  the  last  being  fresh  in  the  minds 
of  every  one  on  account  of  the  late  war  —  and  then  Athens. 
His  way  home  lay  through  France,  England,  and  Scotland. 
In  England  his  classmate,  Shaw,  then  newly  arrived  in  Europe, 
found  him  in  company  with  James  Savage  of  the  Class  of 
1854,  and  enjoyed  their  society  for  several  days,  little  think- 
ing of  the  impending  fate  which  was  to  unite  them  in  arms 
and  in  an  early  death. 

On  Dwight's  return  home,  he  was  admitted,  after  a  short 
experience  as  student  in  the  office  of  the  Attorney-General, 

•  88 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Caleb  Gushing  at  Washington,  and  of  Rockwood  Hoar  in 
Boston,  to  the  Suffolk  Bar,  on  September  9,  1856.  As  might 
be  expected,  Dwight's  short  professional  career  was  all  that 
an  ardent  love  of  the  law,  indefatigable  industry,  and  the 
interest  and  aid  of  powerful  friends  could  make  it.  Eminent 
leaders  at  the  Bar  entrusted  the  whole  management  of  im- 
portant causes  to  him  as  junior  counsel.  His  future  success 
seemed  assured,  when  the  summons  which  he  deemed  im- 
perative came  *  to  drop  his  books  and  adopt  a  new  life  of 
labor  and  sacrifice.  He  had  been  a  strenuous  Republican  in 
the  presidential  campaign  of  1860,  and  he  said  to  the  writer, 
"  We  have  put  Lincoln  in  the  chair  and  we  are  going  to  keep 
him  there."  Accordingly,  when  George  Henry  Gordon,  a 
West  Point  graduate  who  had  distinguished  himself  in  the 
Mexican  War,  and  had  since  been  a  fellow-student  with 
D wight  at  the  Law  School,  but  who  was  in  April,  1861,  prac- 
tising law  in  Boston,  proposed  to  raise  a  regiment  modelled 
upon  the  regular  army  of  the  United  States,  with  enlisted 
men  and  appointed  officers,  among  the  first  to  offer  aid,  per- 
son, counsel,  and  energetic  assistance,  was  Wilder  Dwight. 
He  was  sent,  with  his  future  Lieutenant-Colonel,  George  L. 
Andrews,  to  Washington  to  obtain  from  the  War  Depart- 
ment the  necessary  authority  for  raising  such  a  regiment,  the 
result  being  the  creation  of  the  2d  Regiment  of  Massachusetts 

1  EDITORIAL  NOTE.  —  One  day  in  the  spring  of  1854,  I  was  sitting  with 
other  law  students,  of  whom  Dwight  was  one,  at  a  window  in  the  office 
of  the  Honorable  Franklin  Dexter,  in  Court  Square,  which  commanded 
the  entrance  to  the  Court  House,  and  there  saw  Anthony  Burns  led  down 
the  Court  House  steps  for  his  march  through  State  Street  to  Long  Wharf, 
on  the  way  to  his  rendition.  Three  of  this  group  —  Quincy  (H.  U.  '50), 
then  in  the  office  of  Charles  Greely  Loring  (H.  U.  '12)  ;  Palfrey  (H.  U. 
'51),  then  in  the  office  of  Sidney  Bartlett  (H.  U.  '18)  ;  Rantoul  (H.  U. 
'53  )»  then  also  in  Mr.  Loring's  office  —  had  been  taking  notes  at  the  table 
of  the  Honorable  Richard  H.  Dana  (H.  U.  '37),  who  had  appeared  in  the 
defence  of  Burns,  before  United  States  Commissioner  Edward  Greely 
Loring  (H.  U.  '21),  and  had  asked  their  aid.  Until  the  surrender  of 
Thomas  Simms  two  years  before,  I  suppose  there  had  been  no  rendition 
of  a  slave  in  Massachusetts  since  1780.  No  one  who  listened  to  the  guarded 
but  emphatic  utterances  with  which  Dwight  relieved  the  tension  of  that 
humiliating  scene  was  unprepared  to  learn  that,  when  the  summons  came, 
the  impressions  of  such  an  hour  had  constrained  him  to  forget  his  distaste 
for  military  life,  and  offer  to  the  country  the  sacrifice  he  made. 

89 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Volunteers,  with  whose  existence  that  of  Dwight,  who  was 
commissioned  Major  May  24,  became  identified.  After  a 
camp  of  instruction  and  drill  at  the  historic  Brook  Farm,  and 
a  hurried  advance  from  Boston,  July  8,  to  Martinsburg,  Vir- 
ginia, in  the  expectation  of  an  engagement  with  General  Joe 
Johnston  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  of  which  nothing  came, 
there  followed  a  long  period  of  inaction  on  the  Maryland  bank 
of  the  Potomac  in  various  camps,  continued  at  Frederick  City 
until  February  27,  1862.  Seven  months  had  thus  elapsed 
before  the  regiment  took  part  in  any  active  engagement.  Dur- 
ing this  time  the  most  varied  duties  kept  Dwight's  attention, 
performed  under  every  sort  of  discomfort.  Sometimes  the 
regiment  was  melted  with  heat,  sometimes  drenched  with  rain 
or  chilled  with  frost.  At  one  time  he  was  acting  as  escort 
to  a  wagon-train  sent  to  Washington,  and  at  another  sitting 
as  president  of  a  court-martial,  or  on  a  board  for  the  exami- 
nation of  officers.  He  had  the  unhappiness  to  be  present  at 
the  return  of  the  wounded,  half -drowned,  and  half -clothed 
stragglers  who  escaped  from  the  disaster  of  Ball's  Bluff, 
among  whom  were  personal  friends,  but  although  he  chafed 
at  his  enforced  absence  from  the  theatre  of  actual  warfare, 
feeling  keenly  the  disappointment  caused  by  the  early  reverses 
of  the  Union  Arms,  yet,  throughout  it  all,  his  letters  show 
no  trace  of  despondency  or  homesickness,  or  loss  of  interest 
in  the  business  in  which  he  was  engaged,  or  loss  of  faith 
in  the  cause  in  which  he  was  enlisted. 

At  the  end  of  February,  1862,  the  2d  Regiment  was  or- 
dered across  the  Potomac  to  encounter  the  advance  of  "  Stone- 
wall "  Jackson  down  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  Unfortunately 
Dwight  had  no  opportunity  to  distinguish  himself  in  the  one 
decided  success  of  that  campaign,  the  victory  over  Jackson 
at  Kernstown,  near  Winchester,  on  March  23,  his  regiment 
being  more  than  twenty  miles  away.  Immediately  after  this 
action,  it  was  recalled  to  join  Banks  in  the  pursuit  of  Jackson, 
who,  according  to  his  biographer,  "  crept  along  like  a  wounded 
wolf,  turning  every  moment  to  snap  at  his  pursuers."  The 
pursuit  continued  until  Harrisburg  was  reached  by  the  main 
body  of  the  5th  Army  Corps  early  in  May,  but  the  whole 

90 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


business  of  the  advance  up  the  Shenandoah  Valley  was  a  dis- 
appointment and  a  weariness  to  Dwight.  "When  we  came 
into  Newmarket  on  Friday/'  he  wrote,  "  we  met  General 
Banks  in  high  spirits.  He  complimented  our  march,  said  the 
Secretary  of  War  had  telegraphed  thanks  to  us,  etc.,  etc.,  that 
'  when  our  movement  was  perceived,  the  rear  of  Jackson's 
force  fled  hastily/  etc.  My  own  opinion  was  that,  from  the  be- 
ginning, it  was  nonsense  and  pretty  expensive  silliness  for  us. 
Jackson  was  ready  to  run,  and  began  to  do  so  as  we  began  to 
move,  but  perhaps  we  hastened  him  a  little.  Here  we  are, 
eighty  miles  from  our  supplies,  all  our  wagons  on  the  road, 
our  tents  and  baggage  behind,  our  rations  precarious,  and 
following  a  mirage  in  the  desert." 

Not  the  least  interesting  subjects  of  D wight's  letters 
written  at  this  time  are  the  native  Virginians  and  the  negroes. 
He  has  very  little  disposition  to  look  at  the  Southern  cause 
and  slavery  from  any  other  point  of  view  than  that  of  a 
Northerner  and  Unionist.  "  I  believe  I  am  righting  in  God's 
cause  the  most  diabolical  conspirators  and  rebels  and  tyrants 
in  the  world,"  was  his  expression,  and  yet  he  occasionally 
relents,  as  when  he  finds  a  well-to-do  family  deprived  of  its 
head,  who  was  a  Major  in  the  Rebel  Army,  and  needing 
protection,  and  he  is  ready  to  say,  "  The  general  statement 
that  these  people  are  traitors  and  deserve  all  the  horrors  of 
civil  war  is  easy,  but  the  individual  case  as  it  comes  up  in 
your  eye,  seeing  the  helpless  family  in  their  dismay  at  our 
approach,  can  hardly  fail  to  excite  sympathy." 

It  was  now  believed  that  Banks's  Corps  would  be  sent  east- 
ward in  support  of  McClellan's  Peninsular  campaign.  Banks 
himself  fully  believed  that  Jackson  had  abandoned  the  valley 
of  Virginia  permanently,  when  the  "  mirage  in  the  desert " 
suddenly  became  substantial.  By  the  i8th  of  May  a  Con- 
federate Army  of  seventeen  thousand  men  was  ready  to  be 
precipitated  upon  sixty-four  hundred  and  eight  infantry,  cav- 
alry, and  artillery,  which,  as  Banks  reported,  made  up  the 
whole  of  his  command.  General  Banks  was  not  aroused  to 
the  peril  of  the  situation  until  after  one  day's  fighting,  in  which 
the  small  force  stationed  as  an  outpost  at  Front  Royal  was 

91 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


practically  annihilated.  His  incredulity  and  hesitation  caused 
much  of  the  disaster  which  attended  the  hurried  retreat  from 
Strasburg  of  May  24.  While  this  was  going  on  with  much 
confusion,  the  2d  Massachusetts  was  ordered,  with  others, 
to  form  a  rear-guard  and  retrace  their  march  from  Bartons- 
ville  to  Newtowne,  driving  out  the  enemy  from  the  latter 
place.  Having  sustained  an  artillery  combat  for  two  hours, 
and  holding  the  Confederate  advance  in  check,  they  retired 
from  the  field  as  night  came  on,  and  during  the  following 
hours  Dwight  was  placed  in  a  situation  which  called  for  the 
highest  military  qualities,  all  the  greater  on  account  of  the 
purely  defensive  nature  of  the  movement.  He  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  rear-guard  with  the  pursuing  enemy  upon  him, 
under  the  immediate  eye  of  the  great  "  Stonewall "  himself, 
whose  voice  was  distinctly  heard.  "  As  the  enemy  came  in 
sight  of  the  burning  wagons,  their  yells  were  demoniacal," 
wrote  Dwight  in  his  journal.  "  Expecting  an  attack  of  their 
cavalry  upon  our  rear-guard,  I  prepared  for  it.  Soon  the 
sound  of  approaching  horses  was  heard;  the  growing  dark- 
ness, confused  by  the  glare  of  the  burning  wagons,  com- 
pelled us  to  trust  our  ears.  I  drew  a  line  of  skirmishers  in 
two  groups  near  the  road,  formed  the  reserve  into  a  square, 
and  directed  the  three  bodies  so  formed  to  pour  their  fire 
upon  the  approaching  cavalry  at  the  command  from  me.  The 
cavalry  came  on;  the  fire  was  ordered  and  delivered;  the 
cavalry  went  back."  A  second  time  the  cavalry  was  repulsed, 
and  the  column  moved  on,  but  not  without  severe  skirmishes 
on  the  way.  It  was  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  May  25 
when  the  2d  Massachusetts  sank  down  to  rest  just  outside 
the  town  of  Winchester.  From  between  two  and  three  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  24th  to  between  two  and  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning  of  the  25th  the  enemy  had  been  held  back. 
The  battle  before  Winchester  at  daylight  was  sustained  for 
two  hours  against  overwhelming  odds.  The  Confederates 
followed  close  upon  the  heels  of  the  Federals  into  and  through 
the  town,  but  Major  Dwight  had  disappeared.  Great  was 
the  anxiety  as  to  his  fate  at  this  time,  while  his  conduct  called 
forth  universal  admiration.  "  This  promising  and  brave  of- 

92 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


ficer  was  cool  upon  the  field,  and  was  much  beloved  in  his 
regiment,  and  his  gallant  services  on  the  night  of  the  24th 
instant  will  never  be  forgotten  by  them,"  said  Gordon.  "  His 
indomitable  pluck  and  sang-froid  were  beautiful;  bullets  and 
death  he  utterly  despised  and  ignored,"  said  another  officer. 
"  He  is  my  hero  of  the  fight,"  said  another.  "  You  will 
know,"  said  the  Chaplain,  "  how  nobly  he  commanded  the 
little  army  of  skirmishers  on  Saturday  night  last,  when  he 
formed  his  small  force  against  cavalry  and  infantry  with  en- 
tire success;  how  his  clear,  cool,  and  deliberate  words  of 
command  inspired  the  men  so  that  no  man  faltered,  while 
in  ten  minutes  one  company  lost  one-quarter  of  its  number." 
But  his  friends  were  not  long  in  suspense.  Let  him  tell  his 
own  story  in  the  journal  which  he  kept  at  Winchester.  "  We 
passed  down  into  the  edge  of  the  town.  The  regiment  was 
forming  in  line  when  I  reached  it.  Before  I  had  time  to 
go  to  the  left  where  Colonel  Andrews  was,  the  regiment 
moved  off  again  and  I  followed.  It  now  became  a  run.  The 
fire  began  to  assail  us  from  the  cross  streets  as  well  as  from 
the  rear.  Just  as  I  was  on  the  edge  of  the  town,  one  of  our 
soldiers  called  out  to  me,  "Major,  I  am  shot!"  I  turned 
to  him  and  took  him  along  a  few  steps  and  then  took  him 
into  a  house.  I  told  the  people  they  must  take  care  of  him, 
and  laid  him  down  on  a  bed,  and  opened  his  shirt.  I  then 
turned  to  go  out,  but  the  butternut  soldiery  were  all  around 
the  house,  and  I  quietly  sat  down.  A  soldier  soon  came  in 
and  took  me  prisoner."  After  a  week's  captivity  in  Win- 
chester, in  which  he  made  himself  extremely  useful  to  his 
fellow  captives,  he  was  released  on  parole  and  was  received 
in  enthusiastic  delight  by  the  regiment  at  Williamsburg  on 
June  2,  and  by  his  own  family  at  Brookline  on  the  5th.  On 
the  1 3th  he  was  commissioned  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  his  regi- 
ment. Some  of  his  classmates  presented  him  with  a  dress- 
sword. 

This  enforced  return  to  civil  life  was  not  what  he  desired, 
but  as  he  was  not  destined  to  enjoy  the  full  reward  of  his 
services  at  the  return  of  peace,  it  fortunately  gave  him  an 
opportunity  to  receive  while  living  the  proofs  of  the  high 

93 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  his  fellow  citizens,  and 
especially  of  the  love  and  regard  of  his  fellow  Alumni  at 
Commencement  and  at  the  Phi  Beta  celebration  of  that  year, 
and,  further,  his  friends  were  glad  that  he  was  saved  from 
the  fearful  carnage  of  the  mismanaged  battle  of  Cedar  Moun- 
tain during  Pope's  campaign,  where  the  2d  Massachusetts 
suffered  more  heavily  than  in  any  action  of  the  war.  This 
took  place  on  August  9,  and,  having  been  exchanged,  he 
joined  the  regiment  at  Culpeper  a  few  days  after  in  time  to 
take  part  in  the  retreat  to  Washington.  He  wrote  from  that 
city  on  September  3  and  5 :  "  After  an  experience  of  sixteen 
days  here  I  am  humiliated,  exhausted,  yet  well  and  deter- 
mined. Our  work  on  the  Rappahannock  was  a  series  of 
marches,  countermarches,  vigils,  pickets,  wet  bivouacs;  al- 
ways within  sound,  often  within  reach  of  the  enemy's  can- 
non; moving  under  the  hissing  importunity  of  flying  shells 
and  round  shot.  Our  risks  and  chances  had  been  great,  but 
we  were  not  in  either  of  the  rights  at  Manassas  or  Bull 
Run.  I  am  glad  of  it;  unsuccessful  battles  we  have  had 
enough  of." 

Then  followed  Lee's  invasion  of  Maryland,  and  as  part 
of  McClellan's  army  the  2d  Regiment  moved  up  the  Potomac, 
and  the  hotly  contested  battle  of  Antietam  was  fought  on 
September  17,  1862,  and  here  Dwight  met  his  fate.  He  was 
mortally  wounded  at  about  noon,  while  riding  along  his  lines 
and  waving  the  flag  of  a  rebel  regiment  taken  in  Sumner's 
charge,  and  when  the  regiment  fell  back,  his  pain  was  so 
intense  that  he  refused  to  be  moved.  Here,  while  lying  on 
the  field  under  the  fire  of  the  two  armies,  he  took  from  his 
pocket  a  note  which  he  had  written  in  the  morning,  and 
added  to  it  as  follows :  "  Dearest  Mother,  I  am  wounded  so 
as  to  be  helpless.  Good-bye,  for  so  it  must  be.  I  think  I 
die  in  victory.  God  defend  our  country.  I  trust  in  God  and 
love  you  all  to  the  last.  Dearest  love  to  Father  and  all  my 
dear  brothers.  Our  troops  have  left  the  part  of  the  field 
where  I  lie.  Mother,  yours,  Wilder."  In  larger  and  firmer 
characters  across  the  opposite  page  he  wrote  these  words, 
"All  is  well  with  those  that  have  faith."  Brought  off  the 

94 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


field  into  a  place  of  safety,  he  was  carried  into  a  house  at 
Boonsboro,  and  on  the  way  thither,  and  the  next  day,  and 
until  the  second  day  after  the  battle,  he  exhibited  the  most 
serene  fortitude,  religious  resignation,  and  consideration  for 
all  around  him,  and  died  in  perfect  peace  of  mind  on  Sep- 
tember 19,  1862. 

The  expressions  drawn  from  the  general  public  and  from 
the  press,  following  this  untimely  death  at  less  than  thirty, 
were  only  such  as  would  have  been  looked  for,  but  the  Suf- 
folk Bar,  recognizing  therein  a  loss  peculiar  to  itself,  put  on 
record  an  estimate  of  Dwight  declaring  that  it  was  fortunate 
for  his  country  that  he  had  lived,  —  a  record  which  no  mem- 
ber of  the  Class  of  '53  can  fail  to  recall  with  pride.  Judge 
Hoar,  to  whom  the  resolutions  of  the  Bar  were  presented, 
after  remarking  upon  the  bright  promise  of  his  youth,  and 
adding  that  he  showed  a  natural  affinity  for  able  men,  said 
that  "  the  honors  that  he  received  were  generally  reserved  for 
the  elders  and  the  sages  of  the  Law."  He  has  left  behind 
him  a  permanent  memorial  of  himself  and  a  valuable  con- 
tribution to  the  early  history  of  the  war  in  his  letters  con- 
tained in  the  "  Life  and  Letters  "  excellently  edited  by  his 
mother,  from  which  this  sketch  is  largely  taken. 

CHARLES    WILLIAM    ELIOT1 

I  was  born  March  2Oth,  1834,  at  number  31  Beacon  Street, 
Boston,  the  fourth  child  and  only  son  of  SAMUEL  ATKINS 
ELIOT  and  MARY  LYMAN  ELIOT.  My  father  was  the  son  of 
Samuel  Eliot,  a  successful  importer  and  shop-keeper  in  Boston. 
My  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Theodore  Lyman  of  Waltham, 
a  successful  merchant  in  the  East  India  trade. 

The  first  school  I  attended  was  a  private  school  for  little 
children,  kept  by  the  Misses  Gushing  in  a  private  house  on 
Bowdoin  Street.     The  second  was  a  school  for  young  boys, 
kept  by  Rev.  Thomas  Russell  Sullivan  in  the  basement  of  Park 
Street  Church.    At  ten  years  of  age  I  entered  the  Boston  Pub- 
lic Latin  School,  which  had  then  lately  taken  possession  of  a 
new  building  on  Bedford  Street,  Boston.    The  master  of  this 
1  Written  for  the  Secretary  of  the  Class  of  1853. 
95 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


school  was  Epes  Sargent  Dixwell  (Harvard  A.B.  1827).  I 
began  the  study  of  Latin  at  about  eight  years  of  age  and  had 
but  little  access  to  any  studies  except  Latin,  Greek,  and  ele- 
mentary mathematics  until  I  went  to  Harvard  College  at  the 
age  of  fifteen.  The  Latin  School  was  then  managed  on  the 
most  conservative  principles,  and  had  admitted  to  its  curricu- 
lum no  new  studies,  such  as  modern  languages  and  natural 
sciences.  In  my  case,  however,  the  narrow  programme  of  the 
school  was  supplemented  by  excellent  lessons  in  carpentry 
and  wood-turning  which  my  father  —  whose  ideas  about  edu- 
cation were  much  in  advance  of  the  times  —  was  at  pains  to 
procure  for  me.  I  was  also  taught  early  to  take  long  country 
walks,  to  make  myself  familiar  with  all  parts  of  Boston,  and 
to  ride,  drive,  row,  and  swim.  The  pupils  of  the  Latin  School 
were  almost  exclusively  of  American  birth,  and  many  well- 
to-do  families  sent  their  sons  thither,  because  of  its  high  repu- 
tation as  a  preparatory  school  for  the  American  colleges. 
Almost  all  its  graduates  went  on  to  Harvard  College. 

I  entered  Harvard  College  in  1849,  near  tne  opening  of  the 
presidency  of  Jared  Sparks.  At  that  time  few  traces  remained 
of  the  elective  system  which  had  been  introduced  and  developed 
during  the  administration  of  Josiah  Quincy.  All  the  studies 
of  the  Freshman  and  Sophomore  year  were  required  of  all 
students.  The  greater  part  of  the  studies  of  the  Junior  and 
Senior  year  were  also  required  of  all  students ;  but  there  was 
a  limited  choice  which  could  be  made  by  the  parents  or  guar- 
dians of  undergraduates  among  the  following  studies :  Mathe- 
matics, Greek,  Latin,  German,  Spanish,  and,  in  the  Senior 
year,  Italian.  A  moderate  number  of  themes  and  forensics 
were  required  of  every  student.  In  1849  not  a  single  labora- 
tory existed  in  Harvard  College  open  to  undergraduates.  The 
use  of  the  library  was  not  necessary  to  the  prosecution  of  any 
of  the  studies  of  the  college,  recitation  from  prescribed  text- 
books being  the  prevailing  method  of  instruction.  Every 
student  owned  his  own  textbooks,  and  was  not  supposed  to 
go  outside  of  them.  I  availed  myself  of  the  limited  option 
in  the  Junior  and  Senior  year  to  give  up  Greek  and  pursue 
mathematics.  I  enjoyed  special  privileges  also  in  being  ad- 

96 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


mitted  in  my  Sophomore  year  and  thereafter  to  the  private 
laboratory  of  the  young  professor  of  chemistry  Josiah  P. 
Cooke,  and  there  I  made  a  good  beginning  in  the  laboratory 
study  of  the  science  to  which  I  subsequently  devoted  myself. 

The  subjects  in  which  I  got  beyond  the  elements  while  in 
college  were  chemistry  and  mathematics ;  but  I  also  took  pains 
with  all  the  exercises  in  English  composition  that  were  required 
of  my  class.  At  the  Latin  School  at  the  age  of  thirteen  I  had 
won  the  first  prize  for  declamation,  and  I  continued  while  in 
college  to  take  an  interest  in  the  few  exercises  in  declamation. 
These  exercises,  however,  were  merely  practice  in  reciting 
before  the  class  pieces  committed  to  memory. 

The  Freshmen  of  1849  numbered  eighty-seven,  and  the  Sen- 
iors of  1853  numbered  eighty-eight.  At  that  time  the  college 
lost  very  few  of  the  students  that  had  once  entered  it,  and 
every  class  was  expected  to  graduate  with  rather  more  mem- 
bers than  had  entered  with  it  as  Freshmen,  because  entrance 
to  advanced  standing  was  not  uncommon. 

For  about  four  months  of  my  Junior  year  I  lost  the  use  of 
my  eyes,  and  was  obliged  to  learn  all  my  lessons  by  having 
them  read  to  me.  This  was  a  trying  experience,  but  it  prob- 
ably strengthened  the  habit  of  'close  attention,  and  the  memory. 
I  graduated  the  second  scholar  in  my  class.  When  I  found 
myself  a  Bachelor  of  Arts  I  had  no  idea  what  profession  I 
should  follow;  and  after  a  vacation  spent  chiefly  in  travel 
I  returned  to  my  father's  house  in  Boston,  and  made  serious 
efforts  to  supplement  my  college  education.  I  joined  a  busi- 
ness college  to  learn  bookkeeping,  and  took  lessons  in  French 
and  German,  because  neither  at  school  nor  at  college  had  I 
been  required  to  study  these  languages,  or  indeed,  been  offered 
good  opportunities  to  do  so. 

Long  walking  journeys  in  summer  were  a  valuable  part  of 
my  training  from  1851  to  1855;  an(^  m  tms  wav  *  saw  tne 
most  interesting  parts  of  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick, 
Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  New  Jersey,  and 
Pennsylvania  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  student  of  miner- 
alogy, mining,  and  metallurgy  as  well  as  of  geography  and 
landscape. 

97 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


In  the  late  winter  of  1853-54  President  James  Walker,  who 
had  succeeded  President  Jared  Sparks,  offered  me,  probably 
on  the  suggestion  of  Professor  Cooke,  a  tutorship  in  mathe- 
matics in  Harvard  College,  my  service  to  begin  in  September, 
1854.  In  making  this  proposal  President  Walker  advised  me 
to  aim  at  the  career  of  a  college  teacher.  The  proposal  being 
attractive  to  me  and  acceptable  to  my  parents,  I  accepted  the 
appointment,  and  forthwith  prepared  to  discharge  its  duties. 
My  friend  and  classmate,  James  Mills  Peirce,  was  appointed 
Tutor  in  mathematics  at  the  same  time,  and  together  we 
entered  upon  our  new  work  at  the  opening  of  the  academic 
year  of  1854-55.  Tutor  Peirce  chose  the  Freshman  class, 
leaving  me  the  Sophomore  class  in  that  year.  After  a  year's 
experience  we  applied  some  new  recitation-room  methods 
which  made  the  mathematical  instruction  more  effective. 
Finding  the  existing  method  of  conducting  oral  examinations 
twice  a  year  in  the  presence  of  visiting  committees  of  the 
Board  of  Overseers  very  unsatisfactory  as  a  test  of  the  stu- 
dents' knowledge  and  capacity,  we  asked  leave  of  the  Faculty 
to  conduct  the  mathematical  examinations  of  the  Freshmen 
and  Sophomores  in  writing.  After  a  good  deal  of  hesitation 
the  Faculty  granted  us  leave  to  make  the  experiment;  and 
these  examinations  were  the  first  examinations  in  writing  ever 
conducted  for  entire  classes  in  Harvard  College.  The  inno- 
vation was  gradually  adopted  in  other  departments,  and  ulti- 
mately spread  to  the  whole  University. 

I  tried  to  make  the  teaching  of  mathematics  to  the  Fresh- 
men and  Sophomores  as  concrete  as  possible,  and  to  illustrate 
its  principles  with  practical  applications.  For  example,  while 
the  class  were  studying  trigonometry  I  taught  simple  survey- 
ing to  a  group  of  volunteers,  and  with  their  help  made  a 
survey  of  the  streets  and  open  spaces  of  that  part  of  Cam- 
bridge which  lies  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  University  Hall. 
These  volunteers  made  under  my  direction  a  careful  map  of 
what  was  then  the  College  Yard,  with  every  building,  path, 
and  tree  delineated  thereon  —  a  map  which  is  preserved  in  the 
college  library. 

In  1858  Tutor  Eliot  was  promoted  to  be  Assistant  Professor 

98 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


of  mathematics  and  chemistry  —  the  grade  of  Assistant  Pro- 
fessor being  then  created  for  the  first  time  in  the  University, 
with  a  definition  which  has  remained  unchanged  to  this  day. 
An  Assistant  Professor  is  appointed  for  a  term  of  five  years, 
at  the  end  of  which  period  he  ceases  to  be  an  officer  of  the 
University  unless  he  is  re-appointed  or  receives  a  promotion. 
The  grade  has  proved  to  be  one  of  great  value  to  the  Uni- 
versity, and  there  are  now  (1910)  sixty-eight  Assistant  Pro- 
fessors connected  with  the  University. 

In  1855-56  and  1857-58  I  was  a  member  of  a  boat  club 
which  contained  no  undergraduates,  but  was  made  up  of  di- 
vinity students,  law  students,  scientific  students,  and  a  few 
college  officers.  It  was  appropriately  called  the  Union  Boat 
Club,  and  afforded  opportunity  for  these  older  men  to  take 
exercise  in  rowing  in  both  spring  and  fall  without  aspiring 
to  any  great  excellence,  or  taking  part  in  races.  In  the  shift- 
ing crews  made  up  from  day  to  day  from  members  of  this 
club  I  not  infrequently  rowed  either  stroke  or  bow,  and  came 
to  be  known  as  a  strong  rower  for  my  weight,  and  one  not 
easily  fatigued.  In  the  season  of  1857  the  Harvard  eight- 
oared  crew  had  been  very  badly  defeated  by  a  crew  organized 
by  the  Union  Boat  Club  of  Boston;  and  the  undergraduates 
were  so  much  discouraged  as  to  Harvard's  prospects  in  row- 
ing that  it  turned  out  to  be  impossible  to  get  together  even 
a  six-oared  crew  for  the  ensuing  year  without  calling  upon 
graduates.  Two  or  three  undergraduates  enlisted  Mr.  Alex- 
ander Agassiz  and  me  in  the  effort  to  get  ready  a  six-oared 
crew  for  the  season  of  1858.  I  had  graduated  in  1853,  and 
Mr.  Agassiz  in  1855.  Thus  it  came  about  that  I  rowed  in 
two  regattas  on  Charles  River  Basin;  the  first  on  the  22d 
of  June,  1858,  and  the  second  on  the  4th  of  July.  The  crew 
ordered  from  St.  John  builders  a  new  boat,  which  was  the 
first  shell-boat  to  appear  on  the  Charles.  It  was  short  and 
broad  compared  with  the  shells  of  today,  but  it  was  much 
lighter  in  construction  and  much  more  ticklish  than  Harvard 
crews  had  been  accustomed  to.  It  had  long  outriggers,  but 
no  sliding  seats  and  no  coxswain.  The  bow  oar  used  the 
rudder  by  means  of  a  yoke  which  was  close  to  his  feet.  In 

99 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


both  these  races  the  Harvard  crew  carried  off  the  first  prize, 
a  purse  of  money.  In  both  races  a  large  number  of  boats 
started,  and  in  the  second  race  the  competing  crews  were 
required  to  go  twice  over  the  three-mile  course,  the  city  com- 
mittee which  managed  the  Fourth  of  July  race  supposing  that, 
although  the  Harvard  youth  might  be  able  to  row  three  miles 
rapidly,  they  could  not  row  six  miles. 

It  was  on  the  occasion  of  the  regatta  of  June  22d  that  red 
was  first  used  as  a  distinguishing  color  for  Harvard.  The 
crew  were  very  poor,  had  not  been  able  to  pay  for  their  new 
boat,  and  had  no  service  or  helpers  of  any  sort.  They  were 
in  the  habit  of  rowing  in  their  ordinary  underclothing,  wear- 
ing miscellaneous  hats  and  caps.  When  they  learnt  that 
fourteen  boats  were  to  start  in  the  regatta,  and  that  the  crews 
of  most  of  them  were  uniformed,  they  agreed  that  it  was 
necessary  to  have  some  distinguishing  mark  for  the  Harvard 
crew.  Whereupon  Crowninshield  and  Eliot  went  to  the  store 
of  C.  F.  Hovey  &  Company,  and  asked  to  be  shown  hand- 
kerchiefs of  strong,  fast  color.  Handkerchiefs  were  produced 
in  red,  blue,  green,  and  several  other  colors;  but  it  happened 
that  Crowninshield  and  Eliot  preferred  the  very  handsome 
red  of  certain  Chinese  silk  handkerchiefs;  and  accordingly 
the  Harvard  crew  wore  red  silk  handkerchiefs  tied  round 
their  heads.  This  was  their  only  distinguishing  mark.  The 
introduction  of  the  aniline  dyes  and  the  battle  of  Magenta 
occurring  shortly  after,  the  Harvard  color  degenerated  for  a 
few  years  into  magenta ;  but  that  color  proving  not  fast,  crim- 
son became  the  Harvard  color.  Mr.  Agassiz  and  I  were 
not  eligible  for  the  race  with  Yale,  which  was  to  occur  at 
Springfield  in  the  same  year;  so  our  places  were  filled  with 
undergraduates.  But  the  race  at  Springfield  did  not  occur, 
because  of  the  drowning  of  one  of  the  Yale  crew. 

The  training  in  those  days  was  short  and  by  no  means 
strict.  There  was  no  rubbing*  down,  and  no  bathing  was  pos- 
sible in  the  rough  boathouses  of  that  day.  We  did  all  our 
own  work  of  every  description,  rowed  our  boat  three  miles 
down  to  the  starting-point  just  before  the  races,  and  rowed 
back  to  Cambridge  after  the  races ;  and  such  a  thing  as  f  aint- 

100 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


ing  or  being  exhausted  was  never  thought  of.  In  all  prob- 
ability it  was  not  possible  for  a  crew  to  make  on  a  fixed  seat 
so  great  efforts  as  the  sliding  seat  permits;  and  at  that  time 
there  was  no  public  sentiment  to  the  effect  that  every  member 
of  a  crew  ought  to  "  row  himself  out "  in  a  race.  On  the 
contrary,  it  was  a  reason  for  replacing  one  man  in  the  crew 
of  June  22d  that  he  showed  signs  of  exhaustion  in  the  race; 
and  this  judgment  was  sound,  as  the  subsequent  career  of  this 
member  of  the  original  crew  abundantly  demonstrated. 

During  all  the  weeks  of  preparation  for  these  races  I  was 
doing  my  full  work  as  Assistant  Professor  of  Mathematics 
and  Chemistry,  and  was  superintending  the  building  of  the 
double  house  on  Kirkland  Street  which  I  had  designed.  I 
was  also  superintending  the  finishing  of  Appleton  Chapel  by 
request  of  the  Corporation,  who  had  been  greatly  disappointed 
by  the  slow  progress  of  that  work.  Moreover,  I  was  mak- 
ing preparations  for  my  marriage  to  Miss  Ellen  Derby  Pea- 
body,  which  took  place  in  the  following  October.  My  row- 
ing, far  from  being  my  business  at  the  time,  was  merely  an 
enjoyable  byplay.  It  never  did  me  the  slightest  harm,  either 
at  the  time  or  afterward.  I  was,  however,  twenty-four  years 
of  age,  had  learned  to  row  when  I  was  a  mere  boy,  and  had 
always  been  fond  of  strenuous  bodily  exercise.  I  ought  per- 
haps to  add  that  of  the  seven  men  who  rowed  in  the  Charles 
River  races  in  the  Harvard  boat  of  1858  only  two  had  a 
bodily  life-record  which  could  fairly  be  called  thoroughly  good. 
This  less  than  satisfactory  record  in  five  cases  out  of  seven 
cannot,  however,  be  attributed  to  the  effects  of  the  rowing 
done  in  youth.  Many  causes  probably  contributed  to  the 
rather  disappointing  physical  outcome  of  five  after-lives. 

For  several  years  while  I  was  a  member  of  the  College 
Faculty  as  Tutor  and  Assistant  Professor  I  made  the  Tabular 
View  for  all  college  recitations  and  lectures.  I  got  into  this 
work  by  volunteering  to  draw  up  a  Tabular  View  which 
would  carry  out  two  plans  proposed  by  President  Walker. 
He  wished  to  have  every  college  class  divided  for  recitation 
purposes  into  more  sections  than  had  been  customary  —  into 
three  sections  where  two  had  been  customary,  into  four  where 

101 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


three  had  been  customary;   and  he  also  wished  every  under- 
graduate to  have  one  recitation  in  the  morning,  one  in  the 
middle  of  the  day,  and  one  in  the  afternoon  on  every  week 
day  except  Saturday,  when  the  midday  and  afternoon  exer- 
cises were  omitted.     I  succeeded  in  making,  for  all  the  col- 
lege exercises,  a  Tabular  View  in  which  these  two  wishes  of 
President  Walker  were  carried  out;    and  this  schedule  was 
ultimately  adopted  by  the  College  Faculty,  although  it  in- 
creased the  amount  of  weekly  work  done  by  nearly  every  col- 
lege teacher,  and  increased  it  in  the  most  objectionable  way, 
namely,  by  requiring  of  the  teacher  more  repetitions  of  each 
lesson.     I  experienced  myself  the  full  dulling  effect  of  four 
repetitions  of  the  same  lesson  on  the  same  day,  and  witnessed 
the  effects  of  such  uninteresting  repetitions  on  nearly  all  the 
college  teachers.    I  also  saw  that,  when  the  subjects  of  study 
were  prescribed  for  all  the  students,  it  was  impossible  by 
any  mechanical  means  to  get  real  work  done  by  that  consid- 
erable proportion  of  undergraduates  which,  under  such  a  sys- 
tem, takes  no  interest  in  the  prescribed  subjects.    I  also  learnt 
at  this  time  that  the  competition  in  study  and  attainment  is 
very  limited  under  a  prescribed  system,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  all  the  members  of  a  large  class  are  pursuing  the  same 
subiect.    It  is  limited  for  two  reasons,  first,  because  the  larger 
part  of  the  class  has  to  be  counted  out  from  the  start  —  they 
are  not  competing  for  excellence  —  and  secondly,  because  such 
competition  as  exists  is  competition  among  young  men  all  of 
whom  are  pursuing  an  elementary  study.     It  is  competition 
among  beginners,  and  not  among  advanced  students.     Now 
the  competition  among  beginners  does  not  compare  in  stren- 
uousness  and  efficiency  with  the  competition  among  young 
men  who  have  already  made  considerable  attainments.    These 
observations  on  the  working  of  a  prescribed  course  of  study 
for  undergraduates  were  not  without  influence  on  my  sub- 
sequent action  when,  ten  years  later  in  the  Presidency,  I  had 
opportunity  to  further  the  progressive  development  of  an  elec- 
tive system  in  Harvard  College.     I  saw  clearly  that  a  pre- 
scribed system,  particularly  when  it  was  conducted  with  all 
possible  efficiency,  had  a  very  deadening  effect  on  scholarship 

102 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


and  intellectual  ambition  in  the  teacher.  On  the  other  hand, 
after  1858,  I  had,  by  the  favor  of  Professor  Cooke  and  with 
the  encouragement  of  President  Walker,  some  opportunities 
to  teach  chemistry  and  mineralogy  to  small  elective  classes, 
and  I  fully  appreciated  the  stimulating  effect  of  those  attempts 
on  myself,  and  the  much  greater  satisfaction  to  be  obtained 
in  teaching  a  small  class  of  young  men  who  had  chosen  to 
study  the  subject,  than  in  teaching  a  large  class,  most  of  the 
members  of  which  had  been  driven  against  their  will  to  some 
slight  contact  with  the  subject.  In  short,  as  a  student,  under- 
graduate, and  young  Tutor  and  Assistant  Professor  at  Har- 
vard, I  had  abundant  opportunity  to  see  the  narrowness,  ele- 
mentary quality,  and  inefficiency  of  a  prescribed  curriculum. 

In  October,  1858,  I  was  married  to  Ellen  Derby  Peabody, 
eldest  daughter  of  Rev.  Ephraim  Peabody,  who  was  the  min- 
ister of  King's  Chapel,  Boston,  from  1845  to  J856.  We  oc- 
cupied the  easterly  house  of  a  brick  block  of  two  houses  on 
the  Norton  estate,  near  the  lower  end  of  Kirkland  Street. 
The  westerly  of  the  two  houses  was  occupied  at  the  same 
time  by  my  father  and  mother,  who  in  the  panic  of  1857  had 
lost  their  entire  property  and  been  obliged  to  leave  the  house 
in  Beacon  Street,  Boston,  which  had  been  built  for  them  thirty 
years  before.  The  plans  for  these  two  houses  with  all  their 
details  I  had  drawn  in  the  preceding  spring. 

In  1 860-6 1  the  Corporation  'directed  Assistant  Professor 
Eliot  to  take  charge  of  the  chemical  laboratory  of  the  Law- 
rence Scientific  School,  a  serious  undertaking  for  so  young 
a  man  whose  whole  training  in  chemistry  had  been  received 
in  Harvard  College,  and  who  had  never  given  but  one  course 
of  public  lectures  on  chemistry,  namely,  a  course  in  the  Medi- 
cal School  in  the  winter  of  1856-57.  The  chemical  labora- 
tory of  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School  had  been  created  by 
Professor  Eben  N.  Horsford,  who  was  Rumford  Professor 
of  the  Application  of  Science  to  the  Useful  Arts  from  1847 
to  1863;  and  the  chemical  department  of  that  school  occupied 
an  independent  position,  having  no  connection  with  Harvard 
College,  and  having  an  annual  budget  and  resources  of  its 
own.  In  1863,  about  twenty  months  after  the  Rev.  Thomas 

103 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Hill  had  become  President  of  Harvard  University,  Professor 
Horsford  resigned,  and  the  Rum  ford  Professorship  became 
vacant.    This  vacancy  was  one  to  which  I,  as  Assistant  Pro- 
fessor of  Chemistry,  naturally  aspired;   but  it  was  filled  by 
the  election  of  the  distinguished  chemist,  Dr.  Wolcott  Gibbs, 
who  was  to  take  charge  of  the  chemical  laboratory  of  the 
Lawrence  Scientific  School  in  the  following  September.     My 
five-year  term  as  Assistant  Professor  expired  in  March,  1863; 
but  by  request  of  the  Corporation  I  remained  in  charge  of 
the  laboratory  until  the  close  of  the  academic  year.     Under 
these  circumstances  I  lost  in  the  summer  of  1863  all  connec- 
tion with   Harvard  University,   since  the  Corporation  was 
unable  to  provide  me  with  any  position  I  was  willing  to  ac- 
cept.   I  was  twenty-nine  years  old,  had  a  wife  and  two  young 
children,  and  had  acquired  rather  an  intimate  knowledge  of 
three  departments  of  Harvard  University,  namely,  Harvard 
College,   the   Medical   School,   and  the  Lawrence   Scientific 
School;   but  I  was  wholly  unknown  as  a  scholar  and  teacher 
outside  of  Harvard  University,  except  that  I  had  published 
some  chemical  investigations  under  the  general  guidance  of 
Professor  Cooke  and  in  collaboration  with  my  friend  Frank 
H.  Storer.     It  was  a  grave  question  whether  I  should  hold 
to  the  profession  I  had  chosen,  or  abandon  it  for  some  sort 
of  manufacturing  business,  a  pursuit  for  which  I  and  some 
of  my  friends  thought  I  had  some  capacity.    In  the  late  spring 
of   1863  I  nad  been  offered  by  Governor  Andrew  through 
James  Russell  Lowell  orally  a  commission  as  Colonel  —  or 
more    probably    Lieutenant-Colonel  —  of    cavalry,    an    offer 
which  had  for  me  great  attractions;    but  after  a  week  of 
anxious  deliberation  I  had  declined  the  offer  on  the  ground 
that  I  was  the  only  son  of  my  mother  —  who  was  a  widow  — 
and  that  I  was  the  only  available  man  in  the  family  of  my 
wife's  mother,  who  was  also  a  widow.     This  decision  cost 
me  much  distress;   for  I  felt  strongly  the  call  of  the  country 
—  a  call  which  many  of  my  friends  had  eagerly  obeyed.     It 
was  a  comfort  to  me  that  Mr.  Lowell  approved  my  decision. 

In  the  early  summer  I  decided  to  stick  to  the  profession 
of  education;   and  the  better  to  prepare  myself  for  it  I  re- 

104 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


solved  to  spend  two  years  in  Europe,  studying  educational 
institutions  and  pursuing  my  studies  in  chemistry  and  tech- 
nology. Accordingly  I  sailed  for  Europe  in  September  with 
my  wife  and  our  two  children,  and  spent  the  following  two 
years  in  England,  France,  and  Germany,  making  long  stays 
in  London,  Paris,  and  Marburg,  and  travelling  moderately 
during  the  summers.  I  thus  obtained  considerable  knowl- 
edge of  university  administration  in  different  countries  of 
Europe,  of  the  organization  of  technical  schools,  and  of  the 
prevailing  methods  of  teaching  chemistry  and  physics.  I  also 
made  the  acquaintance  of  some  of  the  principal  libraries  and 
museums  of  Europe. 

While  staying  in  Rome  in  April,  1865  —  I  heard  of  the 
assassination  of  Lincoln  while  I  was  attending  a  service  in 
the  Sistine  Chapel  —  I  received  from  Mr.  Francis  B.  Crown- 
inshield  an  offer  of  the  superintendency  of  the  Merrimac 
Mills  in  Lowell,  at  a  salary  of  five  thousand  dollars  with  the 
occupancy  of  an  excellent  house.  Mr.  Crowninshield  had 
known  me  as  a  teacher  in  Harvard  College,  and  particularly 
as  manager  of  the  chemical  laboratory  in  the  Lawrence  Scien- 
tific School  from  1861  to  1863.  This  occupation  was  de- 
cidedly congenial,  and  pecuniarily  considered  was  much  more 
profitable  than  any  college  professorship  in  the  United  States 
at  that  time;  but  it  involved  the  abandonment  of  the  profes- 
sion for  which  I  had  been  preparing  myself  for  eleven  years. 
While  I  was  discussing  this  grave  question  with  my  wife  came 
the  news  of  the  fall  of  Richmond.  After  a  week  of  delib- 
eration I  declined  Mr.  Crowninshield's  proposal,  with  the 
entire  approval  of  my  wife.  A  few  weeks  later,  while  the 
family  were  making  a  short  stay  in  Vienna,  Professor  Wil- 
liam B.  Rogers  of  Boston  offered  me  by  letter  a  Professor- 
ship of  Chemistry  in  the  new  Institute  of  Technology,  which 
was  to  open  its  classes  in  September,  1865.  The  salary  pro- 
posed was  two  thousand  dollars.  No  students  had  yet  been 
enrolled,  and  the  whole  undertaking  was  novel  and  evidently 
depended  for  success  on  the  wisdom  and  personal  influence 
of  its  head,  Professor  Rogers.  I  gladly  accepted  Professor 
Rogers's  proposal,  and  returned  to  my  house  in  Cambridge 

105 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


in  season  to  join  the  new  Faculty  of  the  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology in  the  last  weeks  of  September. 

During  the  next  four  years  my  professional  labors  were 
given,  entirely  to  the  new  Institute,  organizing  and  building 
up,  in  cooperation  with  my  friend  and  colleague  Professor 
Frank  H.  Storer,  the  chemical  department  of  that  institu- 
tion. To  help  on  this  work  we  published  two  textbooks,  one 
on  general  chemistry  and  the  other  on  qualitative  analysis, 
in  which  a  method  of  experimenting  by  the  student  himself 
replaced  the  former  method  of  memorizing  rules  and  descrip- 
tions of  principles  and  processes.  This  was  distinctly  pioneer 
work  in  the  teaching  of  chemistry. 

In  the  summer  of  1866  my  wife  developed  symptoms  of 
tuberculosis,  and  for  two  years  and  a  half  a  series  of  changes 
of  residence  took  place  in  the  hope  of  rinding  a  more  favor- 
able climate  than  that  of  Cambridge.  At  that  time,  however, 
the  fresh  air  treatment  for  tuberculosis  had  not  been  devel- 
oped, and  American  physicians  had  apparently  not  realized 
the  contagiousness  of  the  disease.  During  this  interval  the 
family  spent  a  year  in  Europe,  trying  the  prescriptions  of 
health-resort  physicians;  but  the  summer  of  1868  found  us 
in  Brookline,  and  the  winter  of  1868-69  was  passed  in  Bos- 
ton. The  Cambridge  home  had  been  definitely  abandoned. 
On  the  I3th  of  March,  1869,  my  wife  died.  Four  days  be- 
fore, while  I  was  attending  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Over- 
seers of  Harvard  College  —  I  had  been  elected  a  member  of 
the  Board  by  the  alumni  at  the  preceding  Commencement  — 
Dr.  George  Putnam,  a  member  of  the  Corporation,  called  me 
aside  and  told  me  that  the  Corporation  desired  to  choose  me 
President  of  Harvard  College;  and  this  election  was  soon 
after  made  in  the  Corporation  and  sent  to  the  Overseers  for 
their  consent.  Thereupon  a  vigorous  discussion  arose  in  that 
Board.  A  few  months  before  I  had  published  in  the  "At- 
lantic Monthly "  two  articles  entitled  "  The  New  Educa- 
tion " ;  so  that  my  opinions  about  education,  which  were  at 
that  time  rather  novel  in  eastern  Massachusetts,  were  accessible 
in  print  to  all  the  members  of  the  Board.  The  Overseers 
by  a  large  majority  returned  my  election  to  the  Corporation, 

106 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


adopting  this  gentle,  but,  as  they  supposed,  decisive  way  of 
rejecting  it.  After  an  interval  of  more  than  two  months  the 
Corporation  returned  my  election  to  the  Overseers,  who  there- 
upon consented  to  it  by  a  vote  of  sixteen  to  eight.  The  con- 
sent of  the  Board  was  given  on  the  ipth  of  May.  I  had  not 
taken  much  interest  in  the  discussion  over  me,  and  was  con- 
tent to  find  relief  from  the  sorrow  at  home  in  strenuous  labor 
at  the  Institute  of  Technology.  When,  however,  my  election 
as  President  had  been  completed  —  unexpectedly  to  me  — 
I  turned  at  once  to  the  study  of  the  functions  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  of  the  needs  of  Harvard  University,  and  in  a  few 
weeks  had  become  absorbed  in  the  new  duties.  Owing  to 
the  recent  death  of  my  wife,  I  did  not  attend  the  Commence- 
ment of  June,  1869,  so  that  Dr.  Andrew  P.  Peabody,  who 
had  been  Acting-President  during  the  long  illness  of  President 
Hill,  discharged  the  duties  of  President  at  that  festival.  The 
name  of  the  new  President  was  not  mentioned  on  that  Com- 
mencement Day  until  the  very  close  of  the  Alumni  Dinner, 
when  Mr.  Joseph  H.  Choate  of  New  York  said  a  few  friendly 
words  about  him  which  were  well  received  by  the  alumni, 
and  were  very  grateful  to  the  untried  and  absent  President. 

From  May,  1869,  forward,  I  worked  day  and  evening 
steadily  and  intensely,  partly  to  prevent  myself  from  revert- 
ing to  the  sorrows  of  the  preceding  three  years,  and  partly 
from  extreme  interest  in  the  new  work  I  had  undertaken  under 
circumstances  which  suggested  strongly  that  I  had  better  jus- 
tify the  choice  of  the  Corporation,  if  I  could. 

As  I  look  back  on  the  years  which  succeeded  my  election 
to  the  Presidency  of  Harvard,  I  see  that  I  was  probably  saved 
from  physical  breakdown  by  two  practices,  one  of  which  I 
set  up  immediately  in  the  summer  of  1869,  and  the  other 
of  which  I  adopted  in  the  summer  of  1871.  The  first  was 
the  practice  of  riding  horseback  every  day,  usually  in  the 
afternoon;  and  the  second  was  cruising  in  summer  along  the 
coast  of  New  England  in  a  small  sloop  of  my  own,  and  camp- 
ing in  tents  during  a  part  of  each  summer  on  the  seashore. 
Seven  years  the  camp  was  on  Calf  Island  in  Frenchman's 
Bay,  Maine,  and  one  year  on  Nonamesset  Island,  adjoining 

107 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Naushon.  In  Cambridge  my  two  boys  went  to  school  in  the 
morning,  and  played  out-of-doors  in  the  afternoon  when  the 
weather  permitted.  I  saw  them  in  the  early  morning  and 
at  meal-times,  and  in  the  summer  they  went  cruising  and 
camping  with  me.  As  soon  as  they  were  large  enough,  I 
taught  them  to  ride,  with  the  help  of  an  extraordinarily  tough, 
intelligent,  and  obstinate  pony  which  had  no  difficulty  in 
keeping  up  with  my  good-sized  horse. 

At  that  time  Harvard  College,  and  indeed  the  whole  of 
Harvard  University,  was  shut  up  during  all  the  long  sum- 
mer vacation.  There  was  no  large  summer  school,  and  little 
work  of  any  sort  going  on  except  repairs  on  the  buildings.  The 
entire  correspondence  for  Harvard  College  was  looked  after 
by  a  single  secretary.  Even  in  the  eighties  Miss  Harris  without 
assistance  dealt  with  the  College  mail  answering  many  inquiries 
herself,  and  distributing  the  rest  to  the  various  officers  con- 
cerned, who  were  with  hardly  an  exception  absent  from  Cam- 
bridge during  the  summer  months.  Her  room  in  the  second 
storey  of  University  Hall  was  so  solitary  that  she  asked  that  the 
door,  now  the  door  of  University  5,  be  replaced  by  a  strong  iron 
grating  locked  from  within.  The  grating  made  her  feel  safe, 
and  permitted  the  passage  of  the  southwest  wind  through  her 
room.  From  1870  to  1881  the  letters  which  the  President 
needed  to  answer  were  sent  to  him  at  any  small  harbor  along 
the  New  England  coast  where  he  expected  to  drop  in  within 
a  week  or  so,  in  accordance  with  directions  by  note  from 
some  port  into  which  he  had  gone  in  a  similar  casual  way. 
For  half  the  summer  he  often  went  a  week  or  ten  days  without 
receiving  any  mail  from  Cambridge ;  and  no  harm  came  from 
this  leisurely  method  of  conducting  the  official  correspondence. 

In  our  cruising  I  went  captain  and  pilot  until  my  sons  be- 
came old  enough  to  manage  the  boat.  In  fifteen  years  of 
cruising  along  the  New  England  Coast,  1870  to  1884,  although 
we  had  many  adventures  in  fog  or  wind,  we  never  met  with 
any  serious  accident  to  our  sloop,  except  that  she  was  once 
dismasted  in  a  heavy  northwester  off  Fisherman's  Island, 
Maine,  through  the  breaking  of  a  chain-plate.  On  the  whole, 
we  found  our  water  sports  safer  than  our  horse  sports.  Be- 

108 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


tween  Watch  Hill,  Connecticut,  and  Eastport,  Maine,  there 
are  few  harbors  or  rivers  into  which  our  forty-foot  sloop 
d;d  not  go  in  one  season  or  another;  but  I  recall  only  three 
occasions  on  which  we  took  a  pilot  —  once  in  passing  through 
Hell  Gate  before  it  had  been  made  comparatively  safe  by 
the  United  States  engineers;  the  second  time  in  crossing  the 
bar  at  Nantucket  after  sunset;  and  the  third  time  when  ap- 
proaching Stonington  (then  Green's  Landing),  Maine,  in  a 
dense  fog.  This  sort  of  cruising  was  not  only  wholesome  and 
enjoyable  for  me,  but  was  highly  instructive  and  interesting 
for  my  boys,  on  both  of  whom  it  had  a  strong  permanent 
influence.  Three  years  after  we  built  a  cottage  at  Northeast 
Harbor  in  the  Island  of  Mt.  Desert  (1881)  this  cruising  came 
to  an  end.  My  sons  were  diverted  to  other  sports  or  to  profes- 
sional work,  and  I  adopted  the  sports  appropriate  to  cottage 
life  at  Mt.  Desert,  —  walking,  driving,  and  sailing  in  a  half- 
open  boat. 

I  thought  I  should  be  able  to  continue  my  studies  and 
my  researches  in  chemistry  when  I  entered  upon  the  Presi- 
dent's functions,  but  a  few  months'  experience  taught  me  that 
all  expectation  of  so  doing  must  be  abandoned;  and,  more- 
over, that  I  should  not  be  able  to  take  part  in  actual  teach- 
ing. In  September,  1869,  I  moved  with  my  two  boys  into 
the  President's  house  on  Quincy  Street,  where  I  subsequently 
lived  for  forty  years.  What  I  have  thought  about  and  done 
during  those  forty  years  need  not  be  recorded  here.  The 
printed  record  is  contained  in  my  Annual  Reports  as  Presi- 
dent of  Harvard  College  to  the  Board  of  Overseers,  the  first 
of  which  was  presented  to  the  Board  in  1870,  and  the  last 
in  1909  covering  the  year  1907-08.  During  this  long  period 
the  University  increased  greatly  in  size,  wealth,  and  influence ; 
this  increase  was  due  to  a  great  variety  of  causes,  and  to  the 
labors  of  a  group  of  men  in  the  Corporation,  Overseers,  and 
Faculties,  who  worked  together  towards  common  educational 
and  ethical  ideals.  For  the  first  twenty  years  progress  was 
made  through  continuous  struggle  against  the  resistance  of 
many  wise  and  honorable  persons,-  both  within  and  without 
the  University.  During  the  second  twenty  years  there  was 

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much  less  conflict;  because  the  ideals  of  the  group  of  active 
workers  to  which  I  belonged  became  the  ideals  of  a  consid- 
erable majority  of  the  friends  of  the  University  and  of  the 
college  officers. 

In  October,  1877,  I  married  Grace  Mellen  Hopkinson, 
younger  daughter  of  Judge  Thomas  Hopkinson  who  was  first 
scholar  in  the  Class  of  1830,  and  became,  first  a  Judge  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  then  President  of  the  Bos- 
ton and  Worcester  Railroad  Company,  a  corporation  which 
in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  one  of  the  most 
considerable  in  the  United  States. 

The  President  of  Harvard  University  is  inevitably  called 
upon  to  make  many  public  addresses  in  the  course  of  a  year. 
He  is  expected  to  be  present  at  public  dinners  of  all  sorts. 
He  must  also  make  occasional  addresses  before  teachers'  as- 
sociations, schools,  and  other  universities,  and  he  must  mani- 
fest by  his  presence  his  interest  in  many  good  public  causes 
and  enterprises.  If  he  is  endeavoring  to  advance,  in  the 
university,  policies  and  projects  which  must  commend  them- 
selves to  the  Faculties,  the  Overseers,  and  the  Corporation 
before  they  can  be  made  effective,  he  will  have  frequent  oc- 
casion to  urge  his  views  in  the  meetings  of  these  bodies,  and 
he  will  have  much  practice  in  forcible  and  persuasive  argu- 
mentation. He  will  often  have  to  speak  without  opportunity 
for  specific  preparation,  although  as  a  rule  he  is  called  upon 
to  speak  only  on  subjects  with  which  his  regular  duties  have 
made  him  familiar.  All  through  my  Presidency  I  had  a  great 
deal  of  practice  in  the  sort  of  speaking  I  have  just  described, 
and  in  the  last  ten  years  I  made  public  addresses  on  a  con- 
siderable variety  of  subjects,  and  at  many  different  places  in 
all  parts  of  the  country.  Most  of  these  addresses  were  of 
an  ephemeral  nature,  or  related  to  some  question  which  was 
temporarily  interesting  the  community  or  the  institution  where 
I  was  speaking.  A  few  of  them  were  suitable  for  subsequent 
publication  as  magazine  articles.  I  have  always  tried  to  be 
simple,  concise,  and  pointed  in  my  public  utterances,  whether 
extemporaneous  or  written  out  beforehand.  Experience  at 
last  taught  me  that  there  is,  and  ought  to  be,  a  real  differ- 

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ence  of  style  between  a  speech  and  an  essay  written  before- 
hand and  read  to  an  audience.  Many  a  speech  which  was 
well  adapted  to  produce  upon  the  audience  of  the  moment  the 
effect  intended,  reads  badly  when  printed  just  ias  it  was 
spoken.  An  accurate  shorthand  report  of  a  good  speech  may 
not  read  well  when  put  into  print,  and  may  even  seem  ob- 
scure to  the  reader  when  it  was  perfectly  clear  to  the  hearer. 
I  have  always  found  it  disagreeable  to  revise  for  printing  the 
shorthand  report  of  a  speech. 

As  time  went  on,  and  the  controversial  character  of  the 
work  I  was  doing  in  the  University  diminished  in  intensity, 
there  was  more  public  recognition  of  certain  good  results  from 
my  labors.  At  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  my  service 
as  President,  the  Faculty  of  Arts  and  Sciences  celebrated  the 
event  in  a  manner  which  was  very  grateful  to  me,  particularly 
as  many  college  officers  joined  in  it  with  whom  I  had  often 
had  strong  differences  of  opinion.  On  my  seventieth  birth- 
day, March  2Oth,  1904,  all  the  Faculties  joined  in  expressions 
of  satisfaction  and  approval.  The  recognition  by  foreign 
nations  of  the  merits  of  Harvard  University,  through  con- 
ferring honors  on  its  President,  began  in  1903  with  the  con- 
ferring on  me  by  France  of  the  insignia  of  an  Officer  in  the 
Legion  of  Honor.  In  the  following  year  I  was  made  a 
Corresponding  Member  of  the  French  Academy  of  Moral 
and  Political  Sciences.  In  1908  I  received  the  insignia  of 
Grand  Officer  of  the  Crown  of  Italy,  and  in  1909  the  Royal 
Order  of  the  Prussian  Crown,  and  the  Imperial  Order  of 
the  Rising  Sun  of  Japan,  these  three  decorations  being  all 
of  the  first  class. 

In  October,  1908,  I  resigned  the  Presidency,  my  resigna- 
tion to  take  effect  at  the  convenience  of  the  President  and 
Fellows  but  not  later  than  May  I9th,  1909.  The  Board  kept 
me  in  office  until  that  date. 

In  January,  1909,  my  wife  and  I,  having  decided  that  we 
wished  to  continue  to  live  in  Cambridge,  picked  out  after 
thorough  search  what  seemed  to  us  the  most  agreeable  house- 
site  in  Cambridge  then  for  sale.  We  have  since  altered  the 
house,  which  had  stood  upon  this  site  since  1838,  to  suit  our 

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needs.  In  March,  1910,  we  occupied  the  house,  and  found 
it  to  our  entire  satisfaction.  I  am  in  receipt  of  a  retiring 
allowance  from  the  Carnegie  Foundation  and  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, and  am  also  enjoying  the  income  of  the  Charles  Wil- 
liam Eliot  Fund,  to  which  about  twenty-two  hundred  gradu- 
ates and  friends  of  Harvard  contributed.  I  have  continued 
since  my  retirement  to  work  for  certain  public  interests  closely 
related  to  each  other,  which  have  long  engaged  my  attention, 
and  which  I  believe  to  be  of  fundamental  concern  to  demo- 
cratic society.  The  chief  of  these  interests  are  education, 
civil-service  reform,  municipal  reform,  capitalism  and  union- 
ism in  a  democracy,  preventive  medicine,  and  conservation. 
They  all  relate  to  the  building  up,  under  free  institutions, 
of  sound  character  in  the  individual  citizen  and  in  the  nation. 

Most  of  my  printed  writings  seem  to  me  to  have  only  a 
temporary  value;  that  is,  they  have  been  contributions  to 
discussions  which  were  of  importance  at  the  moment,  but  are 
not  likely  to  possess  any  permanent  interest.  If  I  might  guess, 
however,  there  are  three  of  my  books  —  two  very  small  — 
which  may  possibly  have  some  durability:  The  Happy  Life; 
John  Gilley;  and  Charles  Eliot,  Landscape  Architect.  For 
men  charged  with  university  administration  in  the  future,  my 
little  book  on  that  subject  may  conceivably  have  some  his- 
torical value,  and  in  the  long  series  of  my  Annual  Reports 
as  President  of  Harvard  University  some  educational  re- 
former may  hereafter  be  interested  to  trace  the  many  steps 
and  stages  of  the  remarkable  development  Harvard  University 
exhibited  in  the  forty  years  from  1869  to  1909. 

I  have  found  the  real  satisfactions  of  life  to  increase  as 
life  goes  on. 

CHARLES  W.  ELIOT. 

17  Fresh  Pond  Parkway, 

Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 

30  April,  1910. 

P.  S.    Cambridge,  22  February,  1913. 

Between  the  5th  of  November,  1911,  and  the  loth  of 
August,  1912,  I  went  round  the  world  in  the  service  of  the 
Carnegie  Endowment  for  International  Peace,  accompanied 

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by  Mrs.  Eliot,  my  eldest  granddaughter  Ruth  Eliot,  and  a 
secretary,  Mr.  Roger  Pierce  (H.  U.  1904),  the  expenses  of 
the  journey  being  paid  by  that  Endowment.     I  was  charged 
to  inquire  into  the  means  of  promoting  peace  in  the  Orient, 
particularly  in  China  and  Japan,  and  to  make  known,  so  far 
as  possible,  in  the  cities  I  visited,  the  purposes  and  objects 
of  the  Carnegie  Endowment.    Leaving  Genoa  on  November 
1 6th,  I  landed  at  Colombo  on  the  2d  of  December,  1911,  and 
left  Yokohama  on  July  I3th,  1912,  after  a  great  variety  of 
intensely  interesting  experiences.     The  journey  is  a  very  in- 
teresting one  for  any  ordinary  tourist,  because  of  the  variety 
of  new  sights  and  sounds  inevitably  met  with  on  the  way; 
but   for  me  it  had  much  stronger  appeals,   because  I  was 
studying  the  intellectual  and  moral,  as  well  as  the  industrial 
and  political  conditions  of  the  various  Oriental  peoples  among 
whom   I   journeyed,    and   chiefly   by  conversation   with   in- 
telligent and  responsible  Orientals  identified  with  the  com- 
merce, manufactures,  education,  and  political  and  religious  in- 
stitutions of  the  Orient.    Although  I  had  travelled  in  the  near 
East  before,  I  had  never  seen  the  Far  East;    and  if  I  had 
had  my  choice  of  the  most  interesting  time  to  visit  the  Orient 
in  all  the  last  two  thousand  years,  I  could  not  have  selected 
a  more  interesting  period  than  just  that  on  which  I  happened. 
It  was,  however,  a  queer  year  in  which  to  be  serving  as  a 
peace-envoy.    Italy  seized  upon  Tripoli  without  any  warrant; 
Russia  invaded  Persia  with  great  violence  on  the  north  while 
England  on  the  south  looked  on;    China  broke  out  in  revo- 
lution;   and  the  Balkan  States,  to  the  surprise  of  Europe, 
suddenly  made  a  concerted  effort  to  rid  themselves  of  the 
Turkish  yoke.     Nevertheless,  there  is  a  reasonable  hope  that 
some  slow-working  forces  towards  greater  good-will  among 
men  may  have  been  set  in  motion  during  that  same  year. 

Mrs.  Eliot  and  I  have  returned  with  joy  to  our  home  in 
Cambridge,  where  five  households  of  near  kindred  live  not 
far  from  us.  I  have  eleven  grandchildren,  four  boys  and 
seven  girls,  whose  ages  range  from  six  to  twenty-three. 

Of  late,  I  am  often  asked  to  what  I  attribute  my  health 
and  long-continued  capacity  for  active  exertion.  The  best 

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answer  I  am  able  to  give  is  —  to  a  sound  constitution  never 
impaired  by  any  serious  disease  or  accident,  a  calm  tempera- 
ment expectant  of  good,  the  habit  of  taking  daily  exercise 
in  the  open  air,  moderation  in  eating,  and  a  slight,  and  never 
steady  or  regular,  use  of  stimulants,  like  tea,  coffee,  alcohol, 
and  tobacco.  Tobacco  I  have  not  used  at  all,  except  on  rare 
occasions  between  1854  and  1858.  I  have  used  tea  most, 
because  it  seems  to  me  to  facilitate  the  mental  effort  of 
writing  or  speaking. 

EDITORIAL  NOTE.  — It  has  been  thought  well  to  add  to  this  sketch  the 
petition  presented  to  the  Corporation  in  1909,  drawn  up  by  Dr.  White,  and 
signed  by  every  living  Professor  of  the  Medical  School,  asking  that  Eliot 
be  given  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  The  honor  was  be- 
stowed upon  him  at  that  time. 

To  the  Fellows  of  Harvard  College : 

Gentlemen,  —  We,  active  and  retired  Professors  in  the 
Medical  School,  some  of  us  members  of  the  Medical  Faculty 
from  the  early  days  of  President  Eliot's  term  of  office,  ear- 
nestly request  the  Fellows  of  Harvard  College  to  confer  the 
honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  upon  him.  They  ask 
this  for  the  following  reasons. 

The  condition  of  the  Medical  School  and  of  Medical  Edu- 
cation in  this  country  before  his  connection  with  the  Univer- 
sity was  deplorable.  The  teachers  in  our  school  were  sup- 
ported by  the  fees  received  directly  from  their  pupils;  the 
greater  the  number  of  the  latter  the  greater  the  income  of  the 
professor.  There  were  no  requirements  for  entrance  to  the 
school,  and  those  for  leaving  it  with  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Medicine  were  trivial.  The  instruction  given  was  wholly 
by  lectures,  and  was  limited  to  four  months  in  the  year. 
There  was  no  gradation  of  students.  Any  one  of  them  after 
paying  for  two  courses  of  lectures  and  passing  a  ten-minutes* 
oral  examination  of  low  grade  in  a  majority  of  the  subjects 
taught  received  his  degree,  which  carried  with  it  the  right 
to  practise  medicine  in  Massachusetts. 

It  was  at  this  time,  in  1870,  that  Mr.  Eliot  became  Presi- 
dent, and  under  constitutional  authority  assumed  the  chair- 

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manship  of  the  Medical  Faculty.  In  this  way  for  the  first 
time  could  the  governing  bodies  of  the  University  become 
informed  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  this  important  department. 
Thereafter  all  committees  of  the  Faculty  were  appointed  by 
the  President,  and  among  the  first  of  these  was  one  to  con- 
sider what  changes  were  needed  to  correct  this  deplorable 
condition.  As  a  result  of  this  movement  professors  were 
thereafter  appointed  by  the  Corporation,  the  Faculty  retain- 
ing only  the  power  of  nomination.  Teachers  no  longer  had 
any  direct  interest  in  students*  fees,  but  received  instead  a 
salary.  Teaching  was  systematized  and  graded,  and  extended 
throughout  the  year  as  in  other  departments  of  the  university. 
Proper  examinations  were  instituted  at  the  end  of  each  year, 
and  the  final  one  for  a  degree  required  a  satisfactory  knowl- 
edge in  every  branch  taught.  Laboratory  instruction  was 
introduced,  as  well  as  a  four-years'  course  of  study. 

In  all  these  radical  changes  President  Eliot  took  a  leading 
and  controlling  part.  From  the  first  he  infused  courage  and 
gave  powerful  support  to  the  young  reformers  within  the 
Faculty.  He  was  ever  in  the  lead  in  suggesting  measures, 
and  active  in  procuring  their  adoption  in  the  two  governing 
bodies  of  the  University.  It  may  be  truly  said  that  without 
his  persistent,  powerful,  and  courageous  help  such  reforms 
in  medical  education  could  not  have  been  accomplished. 

But  it  was  not  wholly  within  the  University  that  he  made 
his  influence  felt.  He  was  constant  in  presenting  his  views 
of  the  low  state  of  Medical  Education,  and  the  efforts  of  the 
school  to  elevate  it,  to  the  profession  on  all  public  oppor- 
tunities, and  calling  attention  to  what  had  been  accomplished 
by  the  school  and  what  yet  remained  to  be  done,  with  his 
wonderful  gift  of  lucid  statement  and  persuasive  eloquence. 

Perhaps  those  of  us  who  were  members  of  the  Medical 
Faculty  before  his  presidency,  now  few  in  number,  can  alone 
justly  appreciate  the  full  measure  of  what  President  Eliot 
has  done  for  the  uplifting  of  medical  education  and  the  medi- 
cal profession,  but  all  of  us  who  present  this  petition,  and 
the  profession  at  large,  will  surely  see  the  justice  of  the  re- 
quest and  recognize  what  an  honor  the  enrolment  of  his 

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name  in  our  ranks  will  be,  however  much  it  may  fail  of  full 
reward  for  his  great  services.  If  such  action  on  the  part  of 
the  governing  bodies  be  unprecedented  in  the  long  annals  of 
the  University,  surely  the  occasion  for  conferring  such  hon- 
orary degree  in  medicine,  and  for  inscribing  the  name  of 
such  a  benefactor  on  its  rolls,  is  equally  without  precedent. 

JOHN   ERVING 

Was  born,  July  6,  1833,  in  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia. 
He  was  the  son  of  COLONEL  JOHN  ERVING  and  EMILY  SOPHIA 
LANGDON-ELWYN  ERVING.  His  great-grandfather,  John 
Erving,  2d,  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1747,  and  his 
great-great-uncle,  Major  William  Erving,  who  was  gradu- 
ated in  1753,  just  a  century  before  us,  established  at  Harvard 
the  Erving  Professorship  of  Chemistry,  the  first  of  its  kind. 

Erving  attended  school  at  Savannah,  Georgia,  and  at  Duff's 
Military  School  at  New  Brighton,  Staten  Island,  and  then  was 
for  five  years  at  the  school  of  the  brothers  Peugnet  in  New 
York  City. 

At  the  time  of  his  maturity  and  after,  Erving  displayed  the 
type  of  manly  vigor,  and,  with  plenty  of  military  blood  in  his 
veins,  naturally  turned  his  face  towards  West  Point,  but  the 
vacancies  being  disposed  of  for  the  moment,  he  decided,  at  the 
age  of  seventeen,  to  enter  the  Sophomore  class  of  Harvard 
College,  where  he  became  at  once  a  marked  figure  for  his 
prowess,  especially  among  the  boating  men.  Having  joined 
the  class  in  the  summer  of  1850,  he  was  graduated  in  course 
with  creditable  rank,  taking,  in  company  with  Davis,  at  the 
end  of  the  Junior  year,  the  Boylston  Prize  for  declamation. 
Erving' s  college  rank  is  not  to  be  dismissed  as  simply  credit- 
able. It  was  distinguished.  In  his  first  Junior  term  he  led 
with  Edward  Pearce  in  astronomy,  and  in  curves  and  func- 
tions was  ahead  of  Eliot  and  Hosmer,  and  abreast  of  Edward 
Pearce  and  James  Mills  Peirce,  outstripping  all  others.  In  the 
second  term  Junior  he  maintained  an  equal  lead,  besides  being 
third  in  physics  and  in  the  general  term  aggregate.  In  the 
first  term  Senior,  Erving  led  in  philosophy,  morality  and  fo- 
rensics,  and  was  tied  with  Hosmer  in  the  lead,  in  optics  and 

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Harvard  Class  of  1853 


natural  philosophy.  He  was  tied  with  Eliot,  Edward  Pearce 
and  James  Mills  Peirce  in  the  lead,  in  curves  and  functions. 
In  the  second  term  Senior,  Dwight  led  in  natural  and  revealed 
religion  with  Erving,  tied  with  Eliot  and  Hosmer,  next.  In 
the  general  term  aggregate  Erving  held  fourth  place.  In  the 
final  score  Erving  was  third.  He  left  the  Dane  Law  School  in 
1855,  and  was  admitted  to  the  New  York  Bar  in  1856. 

Erving  belonged  to  a  fighting  clan,  and  when  the  Civil  War 
broke  out  he  found  it  impossible  to  curb  the  ancestral  spirit. 
He  served  with  the  7th  Regiment  in  1861  and  in  1863.  He 
reported  for  duty  in  1862,  but  was  excused  on  account  of  the 
fatal  illness  of  his  father,  Colonel  John  Erving,  late  ist  Ar- 
tillery, U.  S.  A.,  who  had  served  for  fifty-three  years,  first  in 
the  War  of  1812-15,  then  in  several  Indian  wars  at  the  South, 
and  last  in  the  Mexican  War. 

Erving  entered  the  Bar  when  three  years  out  of  college,  but 
for  many  years  has  been  retired  from  active  practice.  He  has 
been  a  resident  of  New  York  City  since  1855,  passing  his  sum- 
mers until  a  few  years  ago  at  Rye.  On  April  22,  1862,  he 
married  Cornelia  Van  Rensselaer,  daughter  of  William  P. 
Van  Rensselaer,  who  was  the  son  of  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer 
of  Albany,  the  last  Patroon.  They  had  a  large  family  of  chil- 
dren. Some  items  of  the  record  are  as  follows: 

Susan  V.  R.  Erving,  died  July  i,  1912. 

Cornelia  V.  R.  Erving,  married  John  V.  L.  Pruyn,  and  after 
his  death,  Hamilton  L.  Hoppin. 

John  Langdon  Erving,  married  Alice  H.  Rutherford. 

Emily  Elwyn  Erving,  married  Henry  W.  Cooper. 

Sarah  E.  Erving,  married  James  Gore  King  (H.  U.  1889), 
son  of  Edward  King,  '53,  and  the  third  Harvard  graduate 
bearing  his  name ;  the  fourth  King  generation  in  lineal  descent. 

William  V.  R.  Erving. 

Katharine  V.  R.  Erving. 

Eleanor  C.  Erving. 

Frances  Shirley  Erving,  died  September  29,  1878, 

Walter  Shirley  Erving. 

Justine  Bayard  Erving. 

Philip  Livingston  Erving,  died  May  II,  1885. 

117 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


With  Erving,  as  with  Dwight  and  Paine  and  Kurd,  there 
was  no  cedant  arma  toga.  A  brother-lawyer  of  the  class  re- 
ceived from  him,  in  the  midst  of  the  War,  a  business  letter, 
written  from  the  front  in  pencil,  which  shows  at  once  the 
spirit  in  which  he  had  left  home,  and  the  high  pressure  under 
which  national  operations  were  moving.  The  letter  in  part 
follows : 

BIVOUAC  NEAR  FREDERICK,  MD., 
July  13,  1863. 

...  On  the  1 7th  ult.  I  left  N.  Y.  at  a  few  hours'  notice  with  the 
7th  Regt.,  to  which  I  belong,  for  Harrisburg,  as  we  supposed,  but 
for  Baltimore,  as  actually  happened.  A  week  ago  we  came  here 
to  the  front,  and  I  got  your  letter  yesterday  at  the  hog-pen  which 
we  occupy,  on  the  Emmettsburg  road,  where  my  Company,  the 
6th,  is  now  doing  outpost  duty  with  "  yrs.  truly  "  as  1st  Sergeant. 
The  deeds  are  in  my  safe,  and  I  was  about  sending  them  to  you 
when  I  left.  I  had  no  time  to  write  a  line  on  business  to  anyone. 

I  have  received  no  circular  about  class  matters  of  any  kind. 
We  hope  to  be  relieved  on  or  about  the  I7th  or  i8th,  and  I  will 
then  send  the  deeds,  etc.,  as  soon  as  I  can. 

What  day  is  Class  Meeting?  I  should  like  much  to  be  there. 
Send  me  word  addressed  to  my  office  as  usual,  for  our  return  too 
soon  for  a  letter  addressed  here  to  reach  me  is  possible. 

Should  this  reach  you  in  time,  mention  my  absence  to  them, 
and  remember  me  to  Peirce  and  other  friends. 

The  duty  is  disgusting ;  the  departure  very  hard,  but  I  thought 
I  ought  to  go.  I  left  a  wife  and  a  little  one  a  few  weeks  old. 

I  am  writing  in  a  kind  of  leaky  shanty  on  the  side  of  the  road. 
We  have  no  pen  or  ink;  feed  on  hard  tack  and  bacon,  and  are 
as  dirty  a  set  in  appearance  as  you  ever  saw.  No  time  for  more. 
Will  write  as  soon  as  I  can  on  return.  I  had  not  a  moment  to  do 
so  before  leaving  N.  Y.,  and  little  time  since. 

Yrs.  faithfully, 

J.  ERVING. 

CORNELIUS    FISKE, 

Son  of  ELIJAH  and  BATHSHEBA  (BROOKS)  FISKE,  was 
born  at  Lincoln,  Massachusetts,  on  the  23d  of  March,  1830. 

His  education  began  in  the  town  school  of  his  native  place, 
and  after  studying  with  private  tutors  he  entered  the  prepara- 
tory school  of  Lawrence  Academy,  Groton,  and  thence  passed 

118 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


to  Phillips  Exeter  Academy.    He  entered  Harvard  as  Fresh- 
man in  1849. 

After  studying  law  in  an  office  in  Boston  he  entered  that 
of  Benedict  (Erastus  F.),  Burr  &  Benedict,  leading  admiralty 
lawyers,  in  New  York,  and  opened  one  on  his  own  account 
before  May  i,  1857,  at  87  Wall  Street  in  that  city.  He  never 
was  member  of  a  partnership.  He  is  said  to  have  acquired  a 
large  practice  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States  and  in  all 
the  courts  of  the  State  of  New  York.  Among  his  clients  were 
many  of  the  leading  merchants,  such  as  Ball,  Black  &  Com- 
pany, which  firm  then  occupied  in  the  mercantile  world  much 
the  same  place  as  that  of  Tiffany  &  Company  at  present,  as 
were  also  the  leading  dry-goods  firms  of  A.  T.  Stewart  & 
Company,  Arnold,  Constable  &  Company,  Strong,  Adriance  & 
Company,  besides  several  silk  firms  and  sugar  houses.  With 
this  mercantile  practice  he  represented  several  corporations. 

He  was  married  August  24,  1858,  at  Calvary  Church, 
New  York,  to  Mary  A.  Greenwood,  daughter  of  Henry  B. 
Greenwood.  They  had  six  children. 

His  illness  dated  from  a  stroke  of  paralysis  received  nearly 
five  years  before  his  death,  and  for  two  years  he  had  suffered 
from  a  creeping  paralysis  which  at  last  resulted  in  his  death 
at  his  house,  163  West  I2ist  Street,  on  the  I4th  of  August, 
1907. 

A  widow  and  five  children,  three  daughters  and  two  sons, 
survived  him. 

Sons:  Greenwood,  born  February  3,  1864;  married  Marion 

Winslow,  of  Brooklyn,  New  York. 
George  G.,  born  June  19,  1874;  married  Mary  Mc- 
Leod,  of  New  York  City. 

Daughters:  Cornelia,  born  July  17,  1866;  died  1904. 
Martha  T.,  born  December  12,  1868. 
Mary  L.,  born  February  27,  1871. 
Katherine  L.,  born  November  6,  1872. 

EDWARD    FISKE 

Was  the  son  of  AUGUSTUS  HENRY  FISKE,  of  the  firm  of 
Fiske  &  Rand,  the  well-known  lawyers  at  the  Suffolk  Bar,  a 

119 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


graduate  of  the  Harvard  Class  of  1825;  and  of  HANNAH 
ROGERS  BRADFORD  FISKE,  the  seventh  in  direct  descent  from 
William  Bradford,  Governor  of  Plymouth  Colony,  and  also 
a  descendant  of  the  martyr  John  Rogers.  His  grandfather 
was  Isaac  Fiske  of  Weston,  Massachusetts,  a  graduate  of  the 
Class  of  1798  of  Harvard  College. 

Fiske  was  born  in  Concord,  Massachusetts,  September  2, 
1832,  and  at  one  time  attended  the  well-known  school  of  Rev. 
Samuel  Ripley  in  Waltham,  being  one  of  the  younger  boys 
attending  that  school.  Afterwards  he  became  a  member  of 
the  Boston  Latin  School  in  1845,  from  which  he  entered  Har- 
vard College  in  1849  an<^  was  graduated  in  the  Class  of  1853. 
His  part  at  Commencement  was  an  essay  —  "  Patronage  of 
Literature  by  the  English  Aristocracy." 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  in  his  father's  office  in 
Boston,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Bar.  On  account  of  his 
failing  health,  and  with  a  view  to  its  restoration,  he  early 
gave  up  his  law-practice.  And  for  that  reason,  among  others, 
he  made  a  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean  in  a  sailing  ves- 
sel. Not  having  obtained  the  desired  relief,  he  decided  to 
adopt  an  outdoor  country  life,  and  he  purchased  a  home  in 
Sullivan,  Maine,  and  married,  October  13,  1863,  Adelaide  R. 
Frost. 

He  afterward  moved  to  Weston,  Massachusetts,  his  family 
home,  where  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life;  he  died 
there  January  31,  1870,  and  is  buried  in  that  town. 

He  had  two  children,  who,  with  his  widow,  survived 
him, — 

Edward  Fiske,  born  July  8,  1864;  a  lawyer  in  practice  in 
Boston;  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  of  the  Class  of 
1887. 

Susan  Hobbs  Fiske,  born  January  23,  1868. 

He  had  a  rare,  philosophical  turn  of  mind  and  was  a  deep 
and  sound  thinker,  but  his  extreme  sensitiveness  and  modesty 
and  the  great  shyness  of  his  nature,  perhaps  made  more  promi- 
nent by  his  poor  health,  prevented  the  best  display  of  his 
intellectual  powers. 

120 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


WILLIAM    LEONARD    GAGE, 

Eldest  son  of  TENNEY  KIMBALL  and  MARY  SOPHIA  (KIM- 
BALL)  GAGE,  was  born  July  12,  1832,  at  London,  New 
Hampshire. 

He  spent  two  years  at  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  entered 
the  Brimmer  School,  Boston,  in  the  summer  of  1845,  and  the 
Boston  Latin  School  a  year  later.  At  the  end  of  a  three  years' 
course  he  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849.  During  the 
greater  part  of  the  Junior  year  he  was  absent  from  Cambridge 
and  engaged  in  teaching,  first  in  Tewksbury  and  then  in  pri- 
vate families.  He  rejoined  his  class  at  the  beginning  of  the 
second  term  Senior. 

His  first  year  after  graduation  was  spent  at  Jamaica  Plain 
in  teaching  and  reading  general  theology  with  a  view  of  enter- 
ing the  ministry  at  some  time.  In  the  summer  of  1855  he  was 
appointed  Master  of  the  Taunton  High  School,  where  he  re- 
mained for  seven  months.  He  then  visited  Europe  and  studied 
at  the  University  of  Berlin.  Early  in  1856  he  returned  to 
this  country.  He  now  continued  his  theological  studies  (part 
of  the  time  at  Worcester,  where  he  had  the  advice  of  the  Rev. 
Edward  E.  Hale),  and  in  June  was  ordained  and  settled  as 
pastor  of  the  Unitarian  Church  at  Manchester,  New  Hamp- 
shire. After  a  service  there  of  two  years,  he  took  charge  in 
1858  of  the  Unitarian  Church  at  Marietta,  Ohio.  But  his 
views  were  now  changing,  and  the  publication  in  1859  °f  a 
volume  entitled  "  Trinitarian  Sermons  Addressed  to  a  Uni- 
tarian Congregation,"  dedicated  to  the  Rev.  Frederic  D.  Hun- 
tington,  afterwards  Bishop,  marked  the  close  of  his  connection 
with  the  Unitarian  body.  Leaving  Marietta  in  1859,  and  con- 
sidering that  the  Unitarian  movement  had  fulfilled  its  mis- 
sion, he  passed  a  year  in  study  at  the  Andover  Theological 
Seminary  and  in  Europe.  On  returning  he  was  installed 
pastor  of  a  Congregational  Church  at  Portsmouth,  New 
Hampshire,  on  October  17,  1860,  and  held  the  position  until 
January  21,  1863.  From  February  to  October  of  that  year  he 
was  acting  pastor  at  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  and  in  the 
years  1863  and  1864  at  Watertown,  Massachusetts.  From 
October,  1864,  to  October,  1866,  he  was  in  Europe,  and  after 

121 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


visiting  Edinburgh  and  London,  spent  a  year  and  a  half  on  the 
Continent.    His  work  there  was  the  translation  of  some  of  Carl 
Ritter's  geographical  studies.     During  the  remainder  of  the 
year  1866  and  in  1867  he  was  pastor  of  a  church  in  Portland, 
Maine,  and  in  the  winter  of  1866-67  delivered  a  course  of  lec- 
tures at  the  Lowell  Institute,  Boston,  on  Biblical  Geography. 
On  February  25,  1868,  he  was  installed  as  minister  of  the 
Pearl  Street  Church,  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  entered  upon 
what  proved  to  be  his  longest  pastorate.    During  this  period 
he  visited  Europe  in  the  summer  of  1868,  taking  a  vacation 
of  several  weeks;  Palestine  in  the  spring  of  1875;  Europe  in 
1 88 1  with  his  wife,  and  did  a  great  deal  of  literary  work  in 
addition  to  that  of  his  profession.    In  the  winter  of  1875-76 
he  gave  a  second  course  of  Lowell  Lectures  on  "  Wayside 
Notes  in  Palestine."    He  obtained  his  dismission  at  Hartford, 
February  25,  1884.    From  June  in  that  year  to  the  following 
October  he  spent  his  time  in  England  and  on  the  Continent 
of  Europe  in  the  company  of  his  wife  —  his  seventh  trans- 
atlantic journey,  and  the  first  "  in  which  he  could  go  where 
he  would  and  stay  as  long  as  he  wished."    Of  this  he  has  left 
his  impressions  in  a  little  book  entitled  "A  Leisurely  Journey." 
On  his  return  he  did  not  again  become  a  settled  minister,  but 
supplied  pulpits  in  Worcester  and  Springfield,  Massachusetts, 
and  in  West  Winsted,  Connecticut.    He  was  considered  almost 
an  inhabitant  of  Worcester,  where  his  longest  term  of  service 
was  at  the  Central  Church  during  Dr.  Merriam's  absence,  and 
where  he  was  very  popular  and  always  welcomed  as  a  lecturer. 
He  is  said  to  have  attracted  much  attention  by  his  lectures  on 
Travel,  Musical  Themes,  and  on  Palestine,  and  by  his  "  talks  " 
on  Mendelssohn,  with  whose  family  he  had  had  acquaintance. 
But  signs  of  mental  disturbance  now  began  to  make  their 
appearance,  and  he  was  at  one  time  at  a  sanatorium  at  North- 
ampton.   On  May  9,  1889,  he  was  taken  from7  his  home  at 
Hartford  to  Philadelphia,  and  the  next  day  admitted  to  the 
Orthopedic  Hospital  in  that  city,  suffering  from  melancholia, 
and  oppressed  by  thoughts  of  suicide.    His  fears  were  but  too 
well  justified,  for  on  the  3ist  of  the  same  month  he  threw  him- 
self from  his  window  and  was  instantly  killed. 

122 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Gage  married,  January  15,  1857,  Caroline  A.,  daughter  of 
Leonard  and  Caroline  (Parker)  Kimball,  of  Lowell.  A 
daughter,  Helen,  born  May  12,  1858,  married  the  Rev.  Frank- 
lin S.  Hatch. 

He  published  or  edited : 

1859.     Trinitarian  Sermons  Addressed  to  a  Unitarian 

,    Congregation. 

1864.    Lights  in  Darkness. 

1867.    Life  of  Carl  Ritter. 

1870.    Studies  in  Bible  Lands  —  Verses. 

1873.  Three  Sermons  —  The  Home  of  God's  People. 

1875.  The  Isles  of  Shoals  in  Summer  Time. 
1886.    A  Leisurely  Journey. 

1889.    The  Salvation  of  Faust. 
He  also  edited  or  translated : 

1864.  Ritter 's  Geographical  Studies. 

1865.  Steffen's  Autobiography,  and,  in  connection  with 
Dr.  Stuckenberg,  Hagenbach's  Church  History  of  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries;    Ritter's  Uni- 
versity Lectures  on  Comparative  Geography. 

1867.  Francke's  Orphan  House  at  Halle;  Marie  Antoi- 
nette and  her  Son;  and  Tischendorfs  Origin  of  the 
Gospels. 

1869.  A  Historical  Atlas. 

1870.  Ritter's   Erdkunde  von   Sinai,   and   Palestina,   4 
vols.,  8vo. 

1874.  Favorite  Hymns  in  their  Original  Form. 

1876.  Records  of  a  Quiet  Life,  by  Mrs.  Hare. 

1876.  Maps  in  Relief  of  Palestine,  Sinai,  North  America 
and  the  White  Mountains. 

1877.  Lampadius'  Life  of  Mendelssohn. 

EDWARD    CHIPMAN    GUILD, 

Son  of  BENJAMIN  GUILD  (H.  U.  1804),  a  Boston  lawyer, 
and  ELIZA  (ELIOT)  GUILD,  was  born  at  Brookline,  Massachu- 
setts, on  the  29th  of  February,  1832.  He  was  of  the  sixth 
generation  from  John  Guild,  of  Glasgow,  who  come  to  Dedham 
in  1636,  from  Edmund  Ouincy,  who  came  to  Boston  in  1633, 

123 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


from  the  Rev.  Henry  Flynt,  who  came  to  Boston  in  1635,  and 
from  Governor  Thomas  Dudley.  He  was  a  grandson  of  the 
eminent  merchant  Samuel  Eliot,  and  first  cousin  to  his  class- 
mate President  Eliot. 

He  early  manifested  a  decided  taste  for  books  and  reading, 
which  was  fostered  by  all  the  influences  that  surrounded  him, 
as  he  had  access  not  only  to  the  Athenaeum  but  to  the  fine 
library  of  his  uncle  by  marriage,  George  Ticknor  —  their 
Boston  houses  communicated  —  and  to  the  counters  of  Wil- 
liam Crosby,  a  bookseller,  whom  his  father  had  helped  to 
establish  in  business.  At  home  he  lived  in  an  atmosphere  of 
cultivation  and  refinement,  and  enjoyed  the  acquaintance  of 
many  of  the  literary  men  of  the  day.  He  was  educated  by 
private  tutors  and  at  private  schools,  and  entered  Harvard  as 
Freshman  in  1849.  His  Commencement  part  was  a  disquisi- 
tion —  "  Arabian  Libraries." 

On  graduating  in  1853  Guild  had  a  unique  experience  in  the 
woods  of  Franklin  County,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was  con- 
fined throughout  the  summer  "  under  middling  high  pressure,", 
as  he  says,  to  engineering  work  in  the  Venango  Railroad 
Office.  A  corps  of  young  men  slept  in  the  forest  and  had 
every  convenience  for  camping  out,  such  as  good,  wholesome 
food,  good  water,  but  no  clean  clothes,  wash-bowls,  letters, 
or  papers  to  read.  When  they  took  passage  in  a  keel-boat 
down  the  Alleghany  River,  "  rather  adapted  to  the  contem- 
plative than  the  active  mood,  making  28  miles  in  13  hours, 
propelled  sometimes  by  a  pair  of  sweeps  at  which  each  of  us 
took  his  turn,  and  sometimes  dragged  by  a  single  tow-horse 
through  the  eddies  and  deep  waters,  and  sometimes  pushed 
over  the  shallows  with  a  long  pole  —  sleeping,  eating,  re- 
reading our  old  letters  and  papers,  watching  the  white  clouds 
drifting  over  the  smooth,  rounded  Alleghany  Hills,  an  occa- 
sional psalm-tune  breaking  the  silence  quite  agreeably  —  we 
were  night  and  day  hurrying  forward  the  work  on  the  railroad- 
surveys,  and  were  forced  to  resort  to  Cambridge  constitutional 
walks  at  dusk  to  make  up  for  the  confinement." 

He  paints  himself  asleep  at  midnight,  coiled  up  in  his  shawl 
before  the  campfire,  no  shelter  but  the  woods,  and  dreaming 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


of  home.  Backwoods  roughing  it  did  not  interfere  with  his 
health  nor  disturb  his  theories  of  life,  though  he  washed  "  in 
the  spring  "  and  pined  for  Greek  and  letter-writing  and  more 
intelligent  conversation. 

Guild  began  his  studies  for  the  Unitarian  ministry  with  the 
Rev.  Rufus  Ellis  and  the  Rev.  Frederic  D.  Huntington,  con- 
tinued them  at  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  and  passed 
a  year  at  the  Harvard  Divinity  School,  taking  his  place  on 
the  list  of  Alumni  of  1857. 

He  was  ordained  at  Meadville,  Pennsylvania,  on  September 
22,  1859,  and  was  settled  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  immediately  there- 
after—  a  position  which  he  held  till  July  2,  1860.  There  he 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  lady  whom  he  married  on  Octo- 
ber 8,  1 86 1,  Miss  Emma  M.  Cadwallader,  daughter  of  John 
Cadwallader,  M.D.,  and  Emma  R.  (Rhodes)  Cadwallader, 
who  has  since  achieved  distinction  as  a  sculptor  under  the 
name  of  Mrs.  Cadwallader-Guild. 

A  series  of  pastorates  followed  that  of  Marietta  in  the  fol- 
lowing order:  Canton,  Massachusetts,  September  n,  1861, 
to  October  I,  1866;  Ithaca,  New  York,  October  16,  1866,  to 
May  i,  1868;  Baltimore,  Maryland,  September,  1869,  to  Sep- 
tember, 1872;  Waltham,  Massachusetts,  June  8,  1873,  to 
April  30,  1880;  Brunswick,  Maine,  from  January  n,  1885,  to 
July  i,  1894;  Pembroke,  Massachusetts,  from  July  i,  1895, 
to  April,  1896.  Between  the  last  date  and  his  decease  he 
preached  at  Barnstable  and  at  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts. 
While  resident  at  Waltham  he  delivered  a  course  of  twelve 
lectures  at  the  Lowell  Institute  in  1877  on  "  English  Lyric 
Poetry  in  the  Seventeenth  Century." 

The  interval  between  his  settlement  at  Waltham  and  that 
at  Brunswick  was  filled  by  a  visit  to  Europe  and  residence 
abroad  from  June,  1880,  to  February,  1884.  He  seems  to 
have  had  no  other  than  family  reasons  for  so  long  an  absence, 
and  to  have  pursued  no  regular  course  of  study,  although  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  be  so  long  intellectually 
idle.  In  a  letter  of  May  29,  1883,  from  Munich,  after  remark- 
ing that  a  resident  abroad  finds  himself  only  a  looker-on  there, 
and  has  no  essential  share  in  the  realities  of  the  life  which 

125 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


goes  on  about  him,  he  says :  "  Limitless  opportunities  for  self- 
culture  are  open  to  me  here,  but  the  enthusiasm  with  which 
I  might  have  availed  myself  of  them  twenty  years  ago  is  now 
wanting.  I  have  been  so  long  accustomed  to  working  for  ends 
which  seemed  to  me  at  least  to  be  practical  and  to  promise 
some  helpful  result  for  others,  that  I  cannot  content  myself 
with  what  looks  only  to  accumulation,  even  though  it  be  of 
material  which  might  at  a  future  time  be  useful." 

In  his  life  of  nine  years  and  a  half  at  Brunswick,  Maine,  he 
seems  to  have  been  regarded  almost  as  a  member  of  the  teach- 
ing corps  of  Bowdoin  College.  On  December  31,  1888,  he 
writes :  "  Behold  me  still  here  just  at  the  close  of  my  fourth 
year  as  Pastor  of  the  little  Unitarian  Church  in  this  place,  that 
church  indeed  not  having  much  vitality  or  power,  but  giving 
me  an  opportunity  of  reaching  in  many  ways  the  undergradu- 
ates of  Bowdoin  College.  I  give  courses  of  Sunday  evening 
lectures  at  which  they  put  in  a  respectable  appearance  and  am 
to  give  a  course  at  the  College  in  February  and  March.  ...  I 
find  myself  in  very  pleasant  relations  with  Alpha  Delta  Phi 
here,  an  organization  of  which  I  was  a  member  at  Harvard." 

In  the  autumn  of  1888  and  winter  of  1888-89  he  delivered  a 
course  of  "  lessons  "  on  the  poetry  of  Wordsworth,  Southey, 
and  Coleridge.  Of  this  course  he  characteristically  says: 
"  Contrary  to  all  my  habits  and  inclinations  in  the  matter,  I 
am  to  be  paid  so  much  a  head.  It  makes  me  feel  frightened 
and  anxious  from  the  start.  Now  I  am  bound  to  give  them 
their  '  money's  worth '  every  time.  ...  I  feel  like  a  fraud." 

While  at  Brunswick  he  prepared  a  "  Pedestrian  Guide  "  to 
the  neighborhood  of  Brunswick.  An  edition  of  one  thousand 
copies  was  paid  for  by  advertisements,  so  that  he  was  able  to 
give  fifty  dollars  out  of  the  profits  to  the  Historical  Society, 
thereby  enabling  them  to  publish  the  first  number  of  their 
Transactions. 

He  took  much  interest  in  both  the  Brunswick  Public  Library 
and  the  Bowdoin  College  Library,  and  gave  one  of  a  series  of 
free  lectures  on  behalf  of  the  former,  in  order  to  bring  its 
possibilities  more  fully  before  the  citizens  of  Brunswick.  The 
sermon  delivered  in  his  memory  by  the  Rev.  Edward  Beecher 

126 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Mason,  Pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Brunswick,  was  printed 
by  the  authorities  of  the  library.  The  following  extract  gives 
a  pleasant  picture  of  him  and  his  activities  as  they  appeared  to 
the  good  people  of  Brunswick,  but  few  of  whom  were  mem- 
bers of  his  own  congregation :  "  We  recall  instances  of  his 
thoughtf ulness ;  we  remember  how  wisely  he  chose  means  for 
ends;  how  he  attended  this  or  that  drooping  plant,  dropped 
this  or  that  seed;  selected  this  or  that  book  as  suited  to  the 
needs  of  one  or  another  friend;  served  the  village  improve- 
ment society;  worked  for  the  Historical  Society;  gave  wise 
counsel  and  aid  to  the  Town  Library ;  assisted  young  women's 
clubs  in  their  literary  studies,  and  in  other  unknown  ways,  so 
lived  as  to  be  still  living  and  speaking."  The  historical  society 
mentioned  —  the  Pejapscot  Historical  Society  —  voted,  on  his 
decease,  that  "  During  his  residence  in  Brunswick  he  was  an 
active  supporter  of  its  interests,  giving  freely  of  his  time  and 
thought  to  promoting  its  prosperity  and  to  making  it  a  firm 
and  beneficial  influence  in  the  community.  In  doing  this  he 
was  only  doing  one  of  the  many  services  prompted  by  his  help- 
ful and  unselfish  spirit,  which  won  for  him  the  affection  of  his 
friends  and  the  profound  respect  and  gratitude  of  the  entire 
community." 

In  the  year  1891  Guild  found  himself  incapacitated  for 
work  by  a  singular  malady,  "  afflicting  first  the  muscles  and 
afterwards  the  wits  and  the  will,"  which  lasted  until  the  next 
year.  In  the  winter  of  1892-93  he  was  again  at  Brunswick, 
and  during  1894  he  gave  a  course  of  lectures  on  American 
Authors  in  the  Memorial  Hall  of  Bowdoin  College.  Full  of 
misgivings  as  to  their  merits  himself,  he  says  of  them :  "  I 
cannot  put  out  of  sight  the  fact  that  three  or  four  hundred 
people,  including  the  faculty,  come  night  after  night  to  listen 
to  me  for  an  hour  with  sustained  interest,  which  would  seem 
good  evidence  that  they  are  not  worthless." 

In  November,  1899,  while  preparing  to  take  charge  of  the 
Unitarian  Church  at  Pittsfield,  and  although  in  his  usual  good 
health,  he  suffered  an  attack  of  apoplexy  on  the  3d  and  died 
on  the  6th. 

Two  daughters  survived  him,  —  Eliza,  born  April  27,  1864, 

127 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


married  to  William  Von  Wright,  an  officer  in  the  German 
Army;  and  Rose,  born  October  2,  1867,  married  to  Richard 
Fay  Parker. 

WILLIAM    WARE    HALL, 

Son  of  the  REV.  EDWARD  BROOKS  HALL  (H.  U.  1820)  and 
HARRIET  (WARE)  HALL,  was  born  at  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  October  27,  1834. 

He  received  his  early  education  in  Providence,  was  fitted 
for  college  in  the  Providence  High  School,  and  entered  Har- 
vard in  1849  as  Freshman.  During  his  Junior  year  he  con- 
ducted a  winter  school  at  Fitchburg,  Massachusetts.  His 
Commencement  part  was  an  essay  — "  English  Dramatists 
before  Shakespeare." 

After  graduation  he  was  engaged  in  teaching,  from  January 
to  June,  1854,  in  a  small  school  near  Warrenton,  Fauquier 
County,  Virginia,  and  from  October,  1854,  to  September, 
1855,  he  taught  private  pupils  in  the  city  of  New  York  and  at 
Newport,  Rhode  Island.  Entering  the  Harvard  Divinity 
School  in  1855,  he  took  the  full  course  of  three  years.  Two 
years  of  travel  followed,  from  September,  1858,  to  August, 
1860,  and,  on  his  return,  he  entered  on  the  duties  of  his  pro- 
fession, and  preached  in  various  places.  November  30,  1861, 
he  was  commissioned  First  Lieutenant  5th  Rhode  Island 
Volunteers,  and  went  with  Burnside's  Expedition  to  North 
Carolina,  taking  part  in  the  capture  of  Roanoke  Island,  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1862,  the  battle  of  New  Berne,  March  14,  1862,  and 
the  siege  of  Fort  Macon,  which  led  to  its  surrender,  April 
26,  1862.  On  August  2  he  resigned  his  commission  on  account 
of  physical  disability.  In  December,  1862,  he  went  to  Port 
Royal,  St.  Helena  Island,  South  Carolina,  appointed  by  the 
Boston  Educational  Commission  as  a  teacher  of  negroes,  "  con- 
trabands "  so  called,  where  for  a  year  and  a  half  he  did  im- 
portant work.  His  zeal  for  his  work  detained  him  at  his  post 
too  long;  his  health  failed  under  the  pressure  of  labor  which 
he  persisted  in  until  he  could  scarcely  stand  or  speak.  He 
reached  home,  July  i,  1864,  and  died  on  the  9th  of  August 
following,  unmarried. 

128 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


WILLIAM    PENN    HARDING, 

Son  of  ISAAC  and  ABIGAIL  YOUNG  (HicciNs)  HARDING, 
was  born  at  Duxbury,  Massachusetts,  February  15,  1831. 

When  he  was  a  year  old  his  parents  removed  to  Boston, 
where  he  received  his  early  education,  and  in  1846  took  a 
Franklin  medal  on  leaving  the  Endicott  Grammar  School. 
Having  tried  initiation  into  a  business  life  on  Milk  Street,  and 
not  finding  it  to  his  taste,  he  resumed  the  more  congenial  pur- 
suit of  continuing  his  education,  and  entered  the  Cambridge 
High  School,  January  i,  1847,  tnen  under  Principal  Page,  by 
whose  advice  he  was  induced  to  prepare  himself  for  college. 
He  entered  as  Freshman  in  1849  and  lived  at  home  with  his 
parents  in  Cambridge.  On  graduation  his  Commencement 
part  was  an  essay  —  "  The  Puritans  at  Leyden." 

From  1853  to  1857  he  was  engaged  in  the  study  of  law  in 
the  office  of  Richard  F.  Fuller,  in  Boston,  and  in  the  year 
1856  at  the  Harvard  Law  School,  but  this  study  was  pursued 
between  hours,  while  he  held  the  position  of  teacher  in  the 
Boylston  Grammar  School  in  Boston.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
Suffolk  Bar,  October  2,  1856,  but,  before  settling  down  to 
practice,  he  visited  Europe  and  the  West.  In  1858  he  began 
the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Madison,  Wisconsin,  but  soon 
returned  to  Boston,  and  formed  a  partnership  with  Alonzo  V. 
Lynde,  Esq.,  which  was  dissolved  April  30,  1870.  He  then 
went  to  California,  and  subsequently  to  Chicago,  where  he 
opened  a  law-office  and  was  for  a  time  instructor  in  the 
Chicago  Law  School.  Becoming  interested  in  the  LaGrange 
Iron  and  Steel  Company  of  Quincy,  Illinois,  he  went  there  to 
reside,  but  in  1873  was  called  back  to  Boston  by  the  death 
of  his  father.  He  now  renewed  his  partnership  with  Mr. 
Lynde,  which  lasted  until  the  latter's  death  in  1899,  after 
which  he  continued  to  practise  alone.  He  was  admitted  to 
practice  in  the  Courts  of  the  United  States,  October  15,  1875. 

He  married,  December  25,  1861,  Abby  Anceline,  daughter 
of  Lewis  Morse,  of  Canton,  Massachusetts,  the  ceremony 
being  performed  by  his  classmate,  Guild.  Three  of  his  chil- 
dren attained  maturity  —  a  daughter,  Emily  Effie,  born  De- 
cember 14,  1862;  a  son,  Selwyn  Lewis  (H.  U.  1886),  born 

129 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


April    22,  1864,  deceased  January  7,  1887;   a  son»  Adalbert 
(H.  U.  1894),  born  February  12,  1872. 

Harding  died  August  17,  1910.  He  has  put  on  record  his 
strange  experience  during  the  earthquake  which  destroyed  the 
city  of  San  Francisco  in  1906,  and  part  of  it  follows: 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  April  i8th,  1906. 

At  a  few  minutes  past  5.00  A.  M.  we  were  awakened  by  an 
unusual  shaking  and  roar  as  of  escaping  steam.  It  lasted  from 
two  to  five  minutes,  and  I  jumped  up  then,  and  going  into  the 
hall-way  found  everybody  out  and  dressing.  Nobody  seemed 
to  know  what  the  trouble  was.  I  asked,  "  Is  this  not  an  earth- 
quake? "  Then  for  the  first  time  it  entered  the  heads  of  all  — 
and  there  was  a  universal  haste  to  get  out  of  the  hotel. 

I  went  out  on  the  street;  next  building  to  ours,  where  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  is,  was  seen  partly  in  the 
street;  parts  of  all  the  surrounding  buildings  had  completely 
collapsed.  One  church  spire  on  Mission  Street,  I  saw,  had 
tumbled  to  the  ground  and  the  church  building  cracked  in  the 
middle.  In  fact  in  every  direction  along  Market  Street,  and 
streets  branching  from  it,  houses  were  shaken  and  ruined. 

It  is  almost  useless  to  go  into  small  details  of  the  earth- 
quake. Many,  many  buildings  are  now  on  fire  on  the  southerly 
side  of  Market  Street.  Engines  are  striving  to  keep  the  fires 
on  that  side  of  the  street  and  buildings  are  being  blown  up  to 
accomplish  it. 

The  streets  are  crowded,  the  squares  contain  families  with 
their  all  which  could  be  saved.  Hotel-guests  are  getting  their 
trunks  out  and  having  them  carried  to  what  they  regard  as  a 
safer  place. 

No  water  is  running  in  the  pipes.  No  restaurants  here- 
abouts are  open.  Every  one  is  waiting  to  see  what  will  hap- 
pen. We  have  packed  our  trunks,  but  at  this  hour  (10.45 
A.  M.  )  have  not  moved  them  out  of  the  house. 

The  details  you  will  soon  get  of  the  earthquake  and  the 
fire  (before  this  can  reach  you  by  mail).  I  think  many  lives 
are  lost,  but  by  no  means  so  many  as  would  have  been  lost  if 
it  had  occurred  at  7  instead  of  5.00  A.  M. 

130 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


The  question  of  food  and  drink  will  soon  become  a  serious 
one.  Personally  your  mother  and  I  are  not  injured,  but  it 
was  a  pretty  narrow  escape.  Two  smaller  shocks  have  just 
occurred,  but  from  my  reading  I  have  told  all  here  that  there 
is  very  little  likelihood  of  any  more  severe  and  dangerous  ones. 
I  have  been  busy  with  my  observations,  and  I  have  noticed 
that  all  those  buildings  which  were  erected  with  steel  frames 
and  real  stone  foundations  stood  the  shaking  best.  All  the 
others  within  the  sphere  of  the  earthquake's  grasp  are  cracked 
or  have  tumbled  into  the  street.  All  cars  are  stopped.  All 
electric  and  other  wires  are  down;  the  city  to-night  will  be 
in  darkness,  so  far  as  I  can  tell.  More  details  I  shall  have  to 
defer  until  later.  I  am  going  to  try  to  get  this  into  the  post 
office,  which  is  half  a  mile  away. 

12  o'clock  noon.  I  tried  to  reach  the  post  office,  but  it  was 
no  use.  Fire  is  burning  everything  on  the  south  side  of 
Market  Street  for  a  mile.  While  I  am  writing  this,  another 
earthquake  shock,  or  effect  of  dynamite  used  in  blowing  up 
buildings,  is  felt. 

Everybody  jumped  up  and  was  startled.  The  $6,000,000 
City  Hall  I  reached  near  enough  to  see  the  earthquake  had 
ruined  it  beyond  description. 

U.  S.  troops  are  now  parading  the  streets  and  keeping  the 
mob  back  from  the  north  side  of  Market  Street  and  the  burn- 
ing district.  Desolation  and  ruin  with  thousands  of  poor 
people  sitting  on  whatever  little  of  household  goods  they  were 
able  to  save,  are  seen  in  every  street  and  park  space. 

We  have  not  had  anything  to  eat  except  an  orange  or  two  or 
some  candy.  Restaurants  are  closed,  and  no  bake-shops  are 
to  be  found  open.  What  will  come  we  cannot  foretell  as  to 
food.  The  roar  of  dynamite  comes  in,  every  few  moments. 

3.00  P.  M.  I  have  just  come  in  from  a  trip  on  foot  of  two 
or  three  miles,  to  take  in  the  fearful  scenes  of  destruction 
everywhere  visible  in  the  streets,  which  are  covered  with  bricks 
and  stones  from  the  wrecked  buildings  by  the  force  of  the 
five-minute  quake.  Besides  the  fires  have  been  raging  all  day 
and  hundreds  of  houses  are  destroyed.  Dynamite  may  be 
heard  toppling  over  other  buildings  in  the  path  of  the  fire. 

131 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


The  wind  as  usual  is  blowing  stiff  from  the  ocean,  and  the 
work  of  the  firemen  is  to  stop  the  flames  crossing  North  Mar- 
ket Street.  Magnificent  hotels  and  stores  lie  low  in  the  dust 
that  were  filled  yesterday  with  hundreds  of  people.  Small 
quakes  have  been  felt  during  the  day  but  have  caused  no  de- 
struction. How  many  have  been  killed  is  not  known.  The 
principal  thing  to  do  is  to  find  something  to  eat.  All  bake- 
shops  and  restaurants  are  cleaned  out  or  closed.  But  we  shall 
abide  our  fate  in  silence  and  hope  to  find  something  by  to- 
morrow. Nearly  all  the  people  in  the  hotel  have  left  for 
Golden  Park  or  elsewhere ;  but  we  conclude  it  is  wisest  to  stick. 
10.00  P.  M.  I  have  made  a  tour  of  the  burnt  district  cover- 
ing say  two  or  three  miles.  Where  there  were  splendid,  lofty 
and  costly  buildings  some  eighteen  stories  high,  all  is  now  burn- 
ing ruins  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  to  the  south  and  east  of 
the  Main  Street  as  well  as  to  the  west  beyond  the  City  Hall 
and  Hall  of  Records.  Fire  is  now  raging  at  these  two  extreme 
ends  backwards  to  the  southerly  side  of  Market  Street  with  a 
strong  and  steady  westerly  wind  blowing.  Dynamite  is  and 
has  been  freely  used  all  day,  but  without  sufficient  water  for 
the  fire-engines  to  accomplish  a  final  stoppage  of  the  blaze 
slowly  creeping  onward.  Several  tremors  of  the  earth  have 
also  been  felt  all  through  the  day,  and  given  cause  for  anxiety 
for  the  future.  At  this  hour  there  is  no  chance  for  exit  from 
the  city  —  by  rail  or  by  ferry  —  and  the  only  question  for 
those  at  this  hotel  is  where  to  go  in  case  the  fire  is  not  stopped 
in  its  progress.  Consequently  all  the  ladies  and  children  and 
some  of  the  men  who  are  boarding  at  this  hotel  are  lying  down 
on  the  floor  or  in  chairs  trying  to  get  some  comfort,  if  not 
sleep,  ready  for  any  emergency  until  morning  discloses  the 
situation  whether  to  remain  or  get  out.  Another  serious  out- 
look for  the  morning  is  the  lack  of  food.  I  shall  try  to  get 
some  sleep,  as  no  one  knows  what  the  next  hour  may  bring 

forth. 

OAKLAND,  April  20th,  1906. 

We  have  at  last  reached  a  place  of  safety  and  are  in  fairly 
good  condition,  and  shall  leave  for  Sacramento  with  all  our 
goods  except  your  mother's  parasol,  an  old  coat,  a  feather 

132 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


cushion,  and  a  few  small  things.  Details  must  be  spoken 
rather  than  written,  so  that  I  shall  skim  the  narrative  till  we 
arrive  home.  The  fire  got  within  one  street  of  us,  and  I  went 
out  to  it  and  reported  to  the  guests  that  we  must  get  out  at 
once.  So  all  who  passed  the  night  without  undressing,  on 
chairs  or  on  the  floor  of  the  reception-room,  at  once  got  up 
and  started  for  the  street.  I  got  my  trunks  down  to  the  side- 
walk and  left  them  there.  Hastily  I  formed  an  opinion  that 
the  safest  place  was  in  the  burnt  district,  contrary  to  the 
opinion  of  everybody  else,  host  and  guests.  The  latter  took  a 
course  north.  We  went  south.  I  took  your  mother  and 
grabbed  a  stool,  and  landed  her  in  Market  Street,  and  with 
her  bag  told  her  to  sit  quietly  until  I  returned.  I  went  back  to 
the  hotel,  got  the  two  straps  from  my  valise  and  fastened 
them  on  one  of  the  handles  of  each,  trunk.  Then  I  put  one 
trunk  in  the  street  and  pulled  it  a  little  over  two  blocks  to 
where  your  mother  was.  I  returned  for  the  other  big  trunk 
and  tried  to  pull  it,  but  it  was  too  heavy.  Then  I  hunted  up 
a  man  to  help,  and  both  succeeded  in  pulling  that  to  the  same 
place.  A  policeman  came  along  and  told  your  mother  that  she 
was  in  the  safest  place  until  the  fire  reached  the  block.  Then 
it  would  be  better  for  her  to  go  to  the  U.  S.  Mint  building, 
which  was  saved  and  was  in  the  burnt  district.  It  was  so  far 
off  your  mother  told  me  to  abandon  the  trunks.  At  any  rate 
I  got  her  and  her  bag  and  my  overcoat  to  the  Mint  with  the 
stool,  and  I  left  her  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of  men,  women, 
and  children,  and,  securing  a  man,  went  back  for  my  trunks 
and,  with  the  two  straps  and  carrying,  got  both  trunks  over 
to  the  Mint 

We  could  not  sleep,  but  sat  up  to  watch  the  City's  large 
stores  on  Market  Street  and  our  own  and  other  hotels  go  up 
in  flames.  The  roughs  around  us  went  to  the  stores  and 
brought  away  liquors,  cans  of  cakes,  shoes,  trunks,  etc.,  etc., 
whatever  they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  and  piled  them  around 
their  other  belongings.  They  commenced  to  drink  and  became 
noisy.  Your  mother  had  to  bear  it  all  —  with  a  fortitude 
which  I  did  not  expect  to  see  after  what  we  had  been  through 
during  the  day  and  night  after  the  earthquake. 

133 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


To-day  was  one  requiring  action:  First,  to  get  away  from 
San  Francisco  ourselves ;  second,  to  get  our  trunks  to  Oakland 
Ferry,  where  the  steamboats  were  still  running  across  the  Bay. 
I  accomplished  both.  The  day  was  hot ;  the  travel  over  Market 
Street  was  partly  over  bricks  which  had  fallen  from  the  ten 
and  twelve-storeyed  houses.  I  found  a  negro  with  a  wheel- 
barrow and  gave  him  a  round  sum  to  get  my  trunks  to  the 
Ferry.  Your  mother  undertook  to  walk  it  (for  there  was  no 
other  way  to  get  there)  and  she  did  splendidly  to  get  over  the 
piles  of  fallen  bricks,  and  walk  more  than  a  mile.  The  negro 
hired  another  man,  and  they  wheeled  until  they  came  to  the 
bricks,  when  they  untied  the  trunks  and  carried  them  over,  and 
then  the  barrow,  and  so  on  until  they  reached  the  Ferry. 

GEORGE    WALKER    HARTWELL, 

Son  of  GEORGE  HENRY  and  ELIZA  WILLIAMS  (ATHEARN) 
HARTWELL,  nephew  of  Shattuck  Hartwell,  Tutor  at  Harvard 
in  1846-50,  was  born  at  Mt.  Auburn,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  on 
September  27,  1833. 

He  received  his  preparatory  education  at  Phillips  Academy, 
Exeter,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  entered  Harvard  as  Sopho- 
more in  1850.  Neither  of  his  parents  was  then  living. 

After  graduating  in  1853  he  returned  to  Cincinnati  and  took 
a  position  as  clerk  for  the  large  firm  of  Bachelor,  Decamp  & 
Company,  manufacturers  of  paper  and  roofing,  afterwards 
becoming  their  bookkeeper,  and  with  the  exception  of  a  year 
of  military  service,  continued  in  that  employment  until  his 
death.  He  was  married,  June  17,  1858,  to  Mary  Jane  Wilson, 
daughter  of  Wright  and  Catherine  Wilson,  of  Cincinnati,  and, 
buying  property  in  Wyoming,  a  suburb  about  ten  miles  from 
the  city,  an  easy  distance  by  rail  for  a  business  man,  he  made 
it  his  home  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

Of  his  experience  in  the  Civil  War  he  wrote,  in  a  letter  dated 
Cincinnati,  June  13,  1865  :  "  I  entered  the  military  service  on 
the  25th  day  of  August,  1862,  as  Private  in  the  5th  Battery, 
Ohio  Volunteer  Artillery,  for  three  years.  Enlisted  from 
purely  patriotic  motives,  influenced  neither  by  rank  nor  pay 
but  simply  desiring  to  be  a  humble  actor  in  the  greatest  drama 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


ever  put  upon  the  world's  stage,  on  which  we  all  are  players. 
My  business,  which  was  lucrative,  and  my  wife  and  children, 
dear  as  the  dearest,  could  not  restrain  me  under  a  sense  of 
duty  to  God  and  my  country.  My  deafness,  a  life  infirmity, 
was  a  great  barrier  to  my  success  as  a  soldier,  and  finally  ne- 
cessitated my  discharge  after  a  hard  service  of  one  year.  The 
most  memorable  military  affair  I  was  connected  with  was  the 
pursuit  and  driving  out  from  Kentucky  of  the  great  blower, 
Kirby  Smith,  after  his  attempted  passage  of  the  Ohio  River 
at  this  place  on  a  projected  raid  to  the  Northern  Lakes/' 

He  was  long  an  active  member  of  the  Methodist  Church  of 
Wyoming,  and  held  many  offices  connected  therewith.  He 
was  a  kind  and  loving  husband,  a  generous  and  indulgent 
father,  always  looking  forward  for  the  comfort  and  happiness 
of  his  family  and  friends,  and  ready  to  give  a  helping  hand  to 
the  needy  and  to  lift  the  fallen. 

Hart  well  died  of  Bright's  disease  at  Wyoming.  March  12, 
1884,  surrounded  by  his  wife  and  children.  A  list  of  them 
follows:  Alice  Abia,  born  September  26,  1860,  married  to 
Stanley  Matthews  McGilliard,  of  Mt.  Healthy,  Ohio ;  Martha 
Walker,  born  July  6,  1868,  married  to  George  Edwin  Davis, 
of  Cincinnati;  George  Wright,  born  April  30,  1870,  married 
to  Ethel  Foy,  of  Erie,  Pennsylvania,  where  they  live;  Gail 
Wilson,  born  March  17,  1872,  of  Rising  Sun,  Indiana,  mar- 
ried to  Bessie  Barker,  of  that  place;  May  Catherine,  born 
May  25,  1880. 

ADAMS    SHERMAN    HILL, 

The  only  child  of  SHERMAN  G.  and  JOANNA  C.  E.  (BAL- 
LARD)  HILL,  was  born,  January  30,  1833,  in  the  city  of  Bos- 
ton. When  five  years  of  age,  he  was  taken  by  his  parents  to 
Havana,  Cuba,  where  he  passed  three  or  four  months.  While 
there,  his  father,  who  had  made  the  voyage  chiefly  for  his 
health,  fell  a  victim  to  the  yellow  fever  and  very  suddenly  died. 
Soon  after  his  return  his  name,  which  had  been  previously 
Abijah  Adams,  was  changed  by  Act  of  the  Legislature  to  that 
by  which  he  has  since  been  known.  In  July,  1846,  he  was  left 
an  orphan  by  the  death  at  Worcester  of  his  mother,  who  had 

135 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


long  been  an  invalid.  Here  he  found  a  home  in  the  family  of 
his  uncle,  the  Rev.  Alonzo  Hill  (H.  U.  1822),  minister  of  the 
First  Unitarian  Church,  and  here  through  the  kindness  of 
friends  he  knew  but  little  of  an  orphan's  troubles. 

He  was  prepared  for  college  at  the  Worcester  High  School, 
and  entered  the  Freshman  class  at  Harvard  in  1849,  at  tne 
same  time  with  his  cousin,  Hamilton  Alonzo  Hill.  In  college 
he  took  high  rank  and  gained  a  reputation  for  eminent  literary 
ability,  contributing  much  to  the  gayety  of  society  meetings  by 
his  bright  effusions.  In  1852  he  gained  the  First  Bowdoin 
Prize  for  an  essay  on  "  Herodotus  and  Thucydides  compared 
as  Historians."  He  was  chosen  Class  Orator,  and  took  "  En- 
thusiasm "  for  his  subject,  and  earned  high  praise  from  mem- 
bers of  the  Faculty.  His  Commencement  part  on  "  The 
Friendship  of  Frederic  and  Voltaire  "  afforded  him  a  subject 
well  suited  to  his  abilities. 

After  graduating,  he  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of 
Washburn  &  Hoar  at  Worcester,  and  continued  it  in  the  Cam- 
bridge Law  School,  where  he  gained  the  second  prize  for  an 
essay  on  "  The  Husband's  Power  over  the  Choses  in  Action 
of  the  Wife."  Taking  his  LL.B.  in  1855,  he  went  to  New 
York  and  was  there  admitted  to  the  Bar.  After  passing  a  few 
weeks  in  the  office  of  Kent,  Eaton,  &  Davis,  he  started  (in 
1856)  on  the  career  of  journalism  which  was  to  occupy  him 
until  his  return  to  the  University  as  professor.  Beginning  as 
law  reporter  to  the  "  New  York  Tribune,"  and  afterwards  to 
the  "  Evening  Post,"  he  wrote,  in  addition,  editorial  articles 
for  both  papers.  In  1858  he  became  night-editor  of  the 
"  Tribune,"  but  the  work  was  extremely  trying  and  the  mode 
of  life  very  damaging  to  health,  so  much  so  that  he  never 
afterwards  fully  recovered  from  its  effects.  During  this 
period  he  contributed  articles  to  the  "  Atlantic  Monthly  "  and 
to  "  Putnam's  Magazine  " ;  and  one.  which  was  sent  to  "  All 
the  Year  Round,"  then  edited  by  Dickens,  brought  him  an 
autograph  letter,  expressive  of  approbation,  from  the  illus- 
trious novelist.  His  resignation  of  the  night-editorship  in 
1859  was  followed  by  a  tour  of  about  five  months  in  Europe, 
spent  in  France,  Spain,  and  Italy. 

136 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


In  the  spring  of  1860  he  returned  to  this  country,  but  his 
health  was  still  so  poor  that  he  was  unable  to  do  any  work. 
After  resting  nearly  a  year  at  Worcester,  he  became,  in  April, 
1 86 1,  Washington  correspondent  of  the  "  New  York  Tribune," 
an  office  which  he  filled  until  1863.  In  that  year  he  associated 
himself  with  Horace  White,  late  editor-in-chief  of  the  "  Chi- 
cago Tribune  "  and  of  the  "  New  York  Evening  Post,"  and 
Henry  Villard,  afterwards  so  widely  known  from  his  con- 
nection with  railways  and  for  the  vicissitudes  of  his  fortunes, 
in  an  enterprise  of  which  the  object  was  to  supply  several 
newspapers,  including  the  "  Boston  Advertiser,"  the  "  Spring- 
field Republican,"  the  "  Cincinnati  Commercial,"  and  the 
"  Chicago  Tribune,"  with  their  Washington  correspondence. 
Again  his  health  broke  down,  the  arrangement  came  to  an  end, 
and  again  resort  was  had  to  Europe,  in  1864,  for  recovery. 
This  visit  was  passed  mostly  in  Switzerland  on  the  Lake  of 
Geneva,  and  at  Paris,  and  for  a  part  of  the  time  Hill  enjoyed 
the  companionship  of  his  classmate  Cutler. 

Returning  to  the  United  States  in  April,  1865,  soon  after 
the  assassination  of  Lincoln,  he  took  up  his  residence  at  Cam- 
bridge and  occupied  himself  in  literary  work,  writing,  among 
other  articles,  three  in  the  "  North  American  Review "  on 
Swift  and  Sterne  and  Lamb. 

The  early  part  of  the  year  1868  was  passed  at  Chicago  in 
editorial  writing  for  the  "  Chicago  Tribune."  On  September 
25  of  that  year  Hill  was  married  at  Boston,  by  the  Rev.  Ed- 
ward Everett  Hale,  to  Caroline  Inches  Dehon,  daughter  of 
William  Dehon  (H.  U.  1833)  and  his  wife,  Caroline  Maria, 
daughter  of  Henderson  Inches,  of  Boston.  The  newly  mar- 
ried couple  went  abroad  immediately  and  passed  more  than  a 
year  in  Europe.  Their  first  and  now  the  only  surviving  child, 
Arthur  Dehon  Hill  (LL.B.,  H.  U.  1894)  was  born  at  Paris, 
June  25,  1869.  On  Hill's  return  to  this  country  in  the  autumn 
of  1869  he  again  found  employment  in  Chicago  as  editor  of 
the  "  Weekly  Chicago  Tribune,"  but  he  resigned  the  position 
in  the  spring  of  1870.  After  spending  a  few  months  in  Spring- 
field, Massachusetts,  he  went  again  with  his  family  to  Europe, 
where  he  remained  from  April,  1871,  to  June,  1872.  On  his 

137 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


return  Hill  received  an  appointment  to  the  Assistant  Profes- 
sorship of  Rhetoric  at  Harvard  in  September,  1872.  In  1876 
he  was  made  Boylston  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory, 
and  held  that  important  position  until  1904,  when  he  was  made 
Professor  Emeritus,  and  received  the  degree  of  LL.D.  from 
Harvard.  In  1902  he  was  elected  President  of  the  Harvard 
Chapter  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society. 

His  published  works  have  been :  "  Principles  of  Rhetoric," 
1878,  revised  and  enlarged  in  1895;  "Our  English/'  1889; 
a  pamphlet  on  punctuation,  1876;  "Foundations  of  Rhet- 
oric," 1892;  "Beginnings  of  Rhetoric  and  Composition," 
1903. 

After  an  illness  of  several  weeks  Hill  succumbed  to  a  stroke 
of  apoplexy  and  died  on  the  morning  of  Christmas  Day,  1910. 
His  funeral  from  the  Appleton  Chapel  was  largely  attended. 

EDITORIAL  NOTE.  —  Hill's  relations  with  the  daily  press,  and  especially 
with  Mr.  Greeley  and  his  strange  coterie  of  eccentrics —  he  was  entirely 
sensible  of  their  peculiarities  —  were  unique  and  interesting.  They  began 
not  long  before  the  War,  when  a  group  of  able,  energetic  young  men  hap- 
pened to  come  together  in  Washington  —  among  them  Horace  White, 
George  Bliss,  John  D.  Washburn,  Adams  and  Hamilton  Hill,  William  S. 
Davis  —  who  seemed  to  have  resolved,  for  the  time  being  at  least,  upon 
supporting  themselves  by  supplying  news  to  the  journals  of  the  day.  The 
opposition  to  the  Associated  Press,  then  brought  into  being,  was  to  be- 
come a  news-bureau  of  national  dimensions.  It  was  an  organization  which 
had  the  support  of  Western  papers,  brought  into  line  by  Horace  White 
of  the  "  Chicago  Tribune "  and  by  Villard,  who,  in  company  with  Hill, 
specially  represented  the  "  New  York  Tribune,"  and  of  the  "  Boston  Ad- 
vertiser "  and  "  Springfield  Republican,"  both  largely  influenced  in  joining 
the  union  by  Hill.  It  was  founded  in  1864,  and  incurred  at  the  start  the 
bitter  enmity  of  the  successful  monopoly  known  as  the  Associated  Press. 
Its  relations  with  public  functionaries  must  of  necessity  be  close,  and  by 
astute  manipulation  it  was  very  possible  to  discover,  through  methods  not 
always  patent,  the  very  secrets  which  the  Administration  and  its  depart- 
ments were  anxious  not  to  disclose.  For  news-purveyors,  such  disclo- 
sures were  a  stock  in  trade.  Hill's  health  was  never  robust  and  was  al- 
ready yielding  under  the  strain  of  the  "Tribune"  night-editorship, 
which  kept  him  out  of  bed  until  the  small  hours,  when  all  the  midnight 
mails  had  been  delivered  and  received,  and  which  soon  ruined  his  eye- 
sight. It  had  already  required  of  him  a  protracted  respite  and  an  absence 
in  Europe.  The  new  organization,  of  which  Henry  Villard  was  the  nomi- 
nal head  —  his  name  was  not  Villard  any  more  than  Voltaire's  name  was 
Voltaire;  both  happen  to  have  been  associated  with  Switzerland,  and 
Gustavus  Hilgard,  who,  by  signing  his  writings  in  the  Press  "Villard," 

138 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


had  made  familiar  the  name  of  the  little  village  snuggled  under  the  brow 
of  Mont  Blanc,  found  it  well  to  adopt  the  name  as  a  patronymic  —  this 
new  organization  had  already  ensconced  itself  in  sumptuous  quarters  on 
Pennsylvania  Avenue,  where,  with  a  wealth  of  books  and  maps  and 
magazines  and  journals,  and  all  the  appliances  for  ease  and  comfort  which 
lubricate  that  sort  of  work,  its  agents  awaited,  often  with  Hill  in  charge 
during  the  frequent  absence  of  Villard  at  the  front,  the  visits  of  the 
unsuspecting  statesmen.  Nothing  was  more  natural  than  for  a  Senator  or 
department  officer,  at  the  close  of  a  weary  day,  to  drop  into  this  restful 
resort,  the  very  haven  of  late  intelligence,  and  there  refresh  himself  with 
friendly  conversation,  with  a  glance  at  his  home  newspapers,  with  a  harm- 
less cigar  and  a  cheering  glass  of  wine.  In  such  environment  he  was  a  born 
diplomat,  indeed,  from  whose  lips  some  little  hint  of  the  phase  of  the  na- 
tional problem  which  was  next  his  heart  did  not  escape.  And  when  a  dozen 
such  visitors  followed  one  another  through  the  rooms,  the  listener  who 
had  heard  them  all  had,  in  the  end,  got  a  pretty  intimate  insight  into  what 
was  going  on  behind  the  scenes  of  the  great  national  drama  enacting  at  the 
Capital,  without  either  of  his  informers  betraying  any  unpardonable  free- 
dom of  speech. 

When  the  dinner  hour  arrived,  the  members  of  this  astute  brotherhood 
gathered  for  a  common  meal  —  able  men  every  one  —  and  what  each  of 
them  had  picked  up  in  the  peregrinations  of  the  day,  one  going  to  the  War 
Department,  another  to  the  Committee  Rooms  of  the  Capitol  or  to  the 
House  or  Senate  Chamber,  another  to  the  White  House,  another  to  the 
Navy  Yard  —  all  this  accumulated  mass  of  facts  was  merged,  around  the 
genial  board,  into  a  common  stock,  upon  which  to  base  the  efforts  of  an- 
other day,  for  those  who  would  start  forth  betimes  on  their  morrow's 
round.  Few  government  departments  could  withstand  the  siege  for  many 
days.  In  this  way,  step  by  step,  knowledge  reached  these  headquarters,  and 
ultimately  the  public,  which  only  sworn  officials  should  have  had  —  a  frag- 
ment of  each  fact  contributed  by  one  official  and  another  fragment  by  an- 
other, neither  of  them  intending  the  least  wrongdoing,  and  neither  suspect- 
ing himself  of  the  offence,  while  all  of  them  joined  in  the  chorus  of  indig- 
nant protest  that  went  up  against  "the  betrayal  of  government  secrets," 
"  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy,"  "  the  infamous  license  of  the  Press 
Gang "  —  not  suspecting  that,  while  they  lingered  over  their  cigars  and 
village  journals,  they  were  disclosing  bits  which,  ingeniously  put  together, 
had  revealed  the  whole.  Hill  and  his  confreres  were  largely  editing,  in 
this  terrible  hour,  the  press  of  the  nation. 

If  you  look  for  an  excuse  for  this  questionable  straining  of  the  rites  of 
hospitality,  the  perpetrators  of  it  explained  their  work  upon  the  plea  of 
public  necessity.  The  nation,  groaning  in  travail,  must  have  facts,  how- 
ever to  be  obtained.  And  certainly  the  congressional  victims  of  the  game 
got  all  they  gave  in  the  inspection  they  enjoyed  of  a  journalism  of  such 
continental  scope,  brought  together  for  their  benefit,  and  also  in  the  profit- 
able interchange  of  thought  struck  out  in  the  communion  of  these  well- 
stored  minds. 

How  valuable  a  bright  man  like  Hill  could  make  himself  to  the  average 
Western  Senator  was  brought  home  to  me  one  hot  forenoon,  when  my 
cicerone  invited  me  to  go  with  him  to  a  sumptuous  senatorial  bath-room 
in  the  basement  of  the  Capitol,  that  we  might  refresh  ourselves,  as  Diocle- 

139 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


tian  might  have  done,  while  the  Senate  dragged  its  weary  session  out. 
And  how  available  Hill  could  make  a  friend,  was  brought  home  to  me 
when,  one  afternoon,  after  taking  tea  at  the  house  of  Secretary  Chase,  I 
dropped  in,  to  glance  at  the  papers  in  the  parlors  of  the  News  Bureau,  and 
he  asked  me  where  I  had  spent  the  day  and  what  I  had  picked  up.  I  casu- 
ally said  that  I  had  just  left  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  "  And  what 
did  he  seem  to  have  on  his  mind  ?  "  asked  Hill.  "  Oh,  there  was  only  small- 
talk,  but,  from  what  he  said,  I  should  suppose  he  has  no  intention  of  stay- 
ing long  in  the  Cabinet."  The  next  morning's  despatches,  circulating 
throughout  the  country,  announced  that  the  personal  friends  of  Mr.  Chase 
were  well  aware  that  his  connection  with  the  Treasury  Department  would 
be  of  short  duration.  Of  such  material  are  statements  framed  which  affect 
the  value  of  every  day's  work,  and  every  barrel  of  flour,  and  every  promise 
to  pay  value,  on  this  continent. 

Hill  had  a  liking  for  self-asserting  men  of  strong  personality.  He 
seemed  to  regard  them  objectively,  and  to  study  them  as  interesting  natu- 
ral phenomena,  without  much  regard  for  their  moral,  mental,  social,  or 
financial  rating.  He  sought  to  scrutinize  them  as  he  would  queer  speci- 
mens generally.  When  I  met  him  in  New  York,  and  we  set  forth  to  see 
the  town,  it  was  not  the  newest  Picture  Gallery  or  Fifth  Avenue  Palace, 
nor  the  reigning  dancer  or  actress  or  prima  donna,  nor  the  last  Hotel  or 
Play  House,  that  he  believed  would  interest  his  guest.  It  was  worth  some- 
thing to  know  where  good  steamed  oysters,  or  good  vegetable  salads,  or 
good  pumpkin  pies  were  to  be  obtained,  but  others  could  show  the  stranger 
that.  What  interested  Hill  was  the  human  specimen  — the  man  whose 
mental  processes  were  unique,  whose  position  was  strictly  of  his  own 
making,  who  had  made  himself  count  for  something,  who  through  good 
report  and  through  evil  report  had  risen  out  of  nothing  or  against  odds, 
whose  course,  for  good  or  bad,  could  not  be  duplicated  or  predicted.  Such 
men  were  Marshal  Rynders,  Tom  Hyer,  Edwin  Forrest,  "  Commodore  " 
Vanderbilt,  "  Prince  John  "  Van  Buren,  Fernando  Wood,  and,  if  we  are  to 
draw  on  the  other  sex,  Mrs.  Cunningham,  awaiting  trial  for  the  Burdell 
murder,  and  Lola  Montez,  the  exile  of  Bavaria.  Such  beings  he  liked  to 
observe  at  short  range.  They  were  originals  —  they  were  not  like  the  next 
person,  nor  did  they  follow  a  leader  like  flocks  of  sheep.  That  he  was  a 
newspaper-man  furnished  him  ample  excuse  for  calling  on  them  when  he 
would,  and  he  often  took  me  along.  Seen  under  such  guidance,  New  York, 
and  especially  the  "  Tribune  "  Building,  was  a  veritable  "  Zoo." 

By  February,  1858,  Hill's  editorial  position  in  the  "Tribune"  had  be- 
come so  confirmed  that  Dwight  was  writing  to  him,  complaining  that  some 
one  had  pirated  one  of  Chamberlain's  sermons,  and  ought  to  be  attacked 
for  it  in  the  "  Tribune." 

There  was,  at  the  top  of  the  "  Tribune  "  Building,  a  large  room,  amply 
lighted  from  the  roof,  which  Hill  spoke  of  as  the  "  Bear  Pit."  This  had, 
in  the  middle  of  the  floor,  a  large  oval  table  covered  with  Gazetteers  and 
Books  of  Reference,  and  about  this  table  was  a  strange  assortment  of 
human  curiosities,  each  sitting  back  to  the  wall  and  at  single  desks  all 
facing  the  table,  their  costumes,  their  attitudes,  their  pseudonyms,  their 
whole  bearing  as  unconventional  as  were  their  reputations.  These  were 
their  stock  in  trade.  Philander  Q.  Doesticks,  Joaquin  Miller,  Artemus 
Ward  —  such  were  among  them.  The  toper-humorist  they  boarded  out  in 

140 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


the  country  under  lock  and  key,  with  a  keeper  pledged  to  prevent  his  drink- 
ing before  he  should  have  produced  his  weekly  column.  Among  the  deni- 
zens of  the  "  Bear  Pit "  silence  was  golden.  All  were  busy  writing  for  dear 
life.  Nobody  evinced  any  interest  in  another,  or  for  a  moment  thought  of 
loving  his  neighbor  as  himself.  Of  course  there  were  others  outside  of 
these  making  up  the  "Tribune"  staff  —  sober-minded  workers  —  Ripley, 
Dana,  Dr.  Beck,  never  seen  in  the  "  Bear  Pit,"  to  whom  this  language  does 
not  in  the  least  apply.  Mr.  Greeley  was  never  seen  there.  The  place  seemed 
to  be  given  over  to  a  scramble  for  notoriety.  It  was  the  efflorescence  of  the 
unconventional. 

HAMILTON    ALONZO    HILL 

Was  born  in  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  July  2,  1832.  He 
was  the  son  of  REV.  ALONZO  HILL,  D.D.  (H.  U.  1822)  and 
FRANCES  M.  (CLARKE)  HILL. 

He  was  fitted  for  Harvard  College  at  the  Worcester  High 
School.  After  graduation  he  spent  the  first  year  in  the  Har- 
vard Law  School,  and  then  continued  his  law  studies  in  the 
office  of  Washburn  &  Hoar  in  Worcester.  After  his  admis- 
sion to  the  Bar,  he  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Boston.  On 
December  16,  1858,  he  married  Mary  Eliza,  daughter  of 
Rev.  Chandler  Robbins,  D.D.  (H.  U.  1829)  and  Mary  Eliza 
(Frothingham)  Robbins. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War,  Mr.  Hill  was  most 
desirous  of  enlisting,  but,  prevented  at  first  by  paramount  duty 
to  his  family,  he  was  later  stricken  with  a  malignant  form  of 
typhus  fever,  contracted  in  Washington,  and  for  many  weeks 
his  life  was  despaired  of.  This  permanently  impaired  his 
strength,  and  rendered  military  service  impossible.  Return  to 
the  practice  of  law  was  also  forbidden  by  his  physician.  After 
a  summer  spent  abroad,  he  established  in  1865  a  firm  under 
the  name  of  Horace  McMurtrie  &  Co.,  which,  in  1868,  became 
Hill,  Clarke  &  Co.,  machinery  merchants.  His  specialty  was 
the  economical  use  of  steam  power. 

In  1873  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
Commission  to  the  Vienna  Exposition  and  was  also  a  member 
of  the  Patent  Congress  held  in  that  city.  In  1874  he  published 
the  Report  of  the  Commission;  also  a  special  report  on  the 
exhibits  of  machinery.  He  was  later  one  of  the  Commis- 
sioners to  organize  the  Massachusetts  department  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Exposition. 

141 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Mr.  Hill  was  one  of  the  charter  members  of  the  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers.  Besides  his  contribution  to 
the  transactions  of  the  Society,  he  prepared  and  delivered  a 
number  of  lectures  on  scientific  subjects. 

For  purposes  of  business  and  recreation  he  made  numerous 
visits  to  Europe.  His  enjoyment  of  travel,  his  intelligent  ap- 
preciation of  painting  and  architecture,  and  his  love  of  fine 
scenery  were  exceeded  only  by  his  unfailing  delight  in  the  wild 
nature  of  our  Maine  woods.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  camper 
and  an  ingenious  woodsman  from  his  Freshman  year  to  the 
last  year  of  his  life.  His  camping  experiences,  like  his  rambles 
abroad,  were  the  theme  of  magazine  articles  which  he  took  a 
deliberate  pleasure  in  composing. 

Mr.  Hill  retired  from  active  business  in  1894,  but  practised 
as  an  expert  in  steam-power  until  his  health  failed.  He  spent 
much  of  his  time  in  study  and  in  writing.  One  of  the  latest 
and  most  important  of  his  articles  was  a  commentary  on  the 
Venezuelan  question,  entitled  "  Going  Too  Far,"  which  was 
published  in  the  "  Transcript,"  December  26,  1895. 

A  member  of  the  Second  Church  until  1874,  he  afterward 
attended  King's  Chapel  and  became  a  member  of  its  Vestry. 

He  died  in  Boston,  March  18,  1899,  leaving  a  widow  and  an 
only  child,  Mary  Hamilton,  the  wife  of  J.  Randolph  Coolidge, 
Jr.  ('83),  son  of  J.  Randolph  and  Julia  (Gardner)  Coolidge. 

ALFRED    HOSMER, 

Oldest  child  of  ALFRED  and  MARY  ANN  (GRAHAM)  HOS- 
MER, was  born  at  Newton  Lower  Falls,  September  n,  1832. 
His  father  died  in  1835.  i 

He  attended  the  Newton  public  schools,  and  in  1840  his 
mother  removed  to  Walpole,  New  Hampshire,  his  father's 
native  place.  He  remained  at  Walpole  most  of  the  time  from 
November,  1840,  until  July,  1849,  fitting  for  college  — as  he 
said,  "  so  far  as  he  was  fitted  at  all,  having  a  part  of  the  time 
an  instructor  and  a  part  of  it  being  without  one."  He  was 
given  on  graduating  an  English  oration  —  "  The  Influence  of 
Physical  Causes  on  the  Intellectual  Faculties." 

Soon  after,  he  was  admitted  to  the  office  of  his  uncle,  Dr. 

142 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Hiram  Hosmer,  of  Watertown.  After  two  winters  at  the  lec- 
tures of  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  and  a  third  year  as 
house-officer  in  the  surgical  department  of  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital,  he  received  the  degree  of  M.D.,  and  then 
spent  nearly  a  year  in  prosecuting  his  studies  at  Paris.  He 
settled  in  Watertown  in  1857,  and  on  June  6,  1860,  married 
Helen  Augusta,  daughter  of  Josiah  Stickney.  He  became  a 
member  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  in  1856;  was 
often  a  member  of  its  council;  was  its  anniversary  chairman 
in  1877,  and  its  President  in  1882,  being  the  youngest  person 
to  occupy  that  seat  of  honor.  He  was  President  of  the  Boston 
Obstetrical  Society  for  two  years,  and  President  of  the  South 
District  Medical  Society.  He  was  Medical  Examiner  of 
Middlesex  County,  Seventh  District,  from  1877  until  1884. 
He  was  among  the  first  to  organize  the  Massachusetts  Medico- 
Legal  Society,  was  its  first  President,  and  held  that  office  for 
three  years.  He  was  post-surgeon  at  the  Watertown  Arsenal 
for  many  years.  He  was  made  a  Fellow  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  in  1879.  In  1881  he  was 
chairman  of  the  State  Health  Committee  and  a  member  of 
the  State  Board  of  Health,  Lunacy,  and  Charity.  He  was  a 
frequent  contributor  to  medical  journals. 

As  a  citizen  of  Watertown  he  was  extremely  active  and 
public-spirited,  especially  in  the  field  of  education.  From  1865 
to  1871  he  served  as  chairman  on  the  School  Committee.  He 
was  Trustee  of  the  Public  Library  from  1868  to  1878,  serving 
as  secretary  of  the  board  two  years,  and  as  chairman  six 
years. 

He  was  chosen  Trustee  of  the  Watertown  Savings  Bank  in 
1867,  and  served  as  President  from  1874  to  1890.  He  was 
the  prime-mover  in  organizing  the  Watertown  Historical  So- 
ciety, and  was  its  first  President,  and  held  the  office  until  his 
death.  He  was  a  member  of  the  First  Parish  Church  of 
Watertown  (Unitarian),  served  for  many  years  as  moderator 
at  its  annual  meetings,  and  was  chairman  of  the  Building  Com- 
mittee. He  supervised  the  erection  of  the  Unitarian  Building, 
built  for  the  Sunday  School. 

As  a  surgeon  he  was  well  known  throughout  the  State,  and 

US 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


was  very  benevolent  to  the  poor.  He  owned  a  bed  at  the 
Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  and  many  patients,  unable  to 
pay  for  treatment,  have  occupied  it. 

On  December  29,  1888,  he  was  stricken  with  paralysis  of 
the  brain,  brought  on  by  overwork,  and  became  incapacitated 
for  any  further  usefulness.  He  died  at  Watertown  at  his  resi- 
dence, Riverside  Place,  on  May  14,  1891.  His  funeral  on  the 
1 8th  was  more  largely  attended  than  any  for  many  years. 
His  classmates,  Eliot,  President  of  the  University,  and  John- 
son, President  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  were 
among  his  pall-bearers. 

He  left  a  widow ;  a  daughter,  Elizabeth  Skinner,  born  June 
5,  1865;  and  a  son,  Alfred  Graham,  born  June  7,  1873. 

ANDREW    JACKSON    HOWE, 

The  eldest  son  of  SAMUEL  H.  and  ELIZABETH  HUBBARD 
(MOORE)  HOWE,  was  born  at  Paxton,  Massachusetts,  April 
14,  1825,  in  a  house  where,  since  1743,  four  generations  of  his 
family  have  lived.  The  house  was  purchased  by  him  in  his 
last  years  and,  in  accordance  with  his  wishes,  was  presented 
after  his  decease  to  his  native  town.  His  father  moved  to 
Leicester  when  Howe  was  but  a  few  years  old,  and  he  received 
his  early  education  in  its  schools,  and  his  preparation  for  col- 
lege in  the  Leicester  Academy,  then  under  Josiah  Clarke,  of 
that  town.  At  a  very  early  age  he  manifested  a  strong  incli- 
nation towards  natural  science,  stimulated  by  reading  the  then 
famous  "  Vestiges  of  Creation."  He  was  a  student  of  medi- 
cine before  going  to  college,  having  passed  a  few  months  in 
the  office  of  Dr.  Calvin  Newton,  of  Worcester,  and  having  at- 
tended a  course  of  lectures  in  the  Medical  College  of  that  city. 
He  decided  to  enter  college  after  he  was  twenty-one,  and  then 
he  found  he  had  no  resources  but  his  own  to  rely  on. 

Howe  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849.  Towards  the 
close  of  the  Freshman  year,  he  was  one  of  a  party  consisting 
of  himself,  Carroll,  Howland,  and  Sargent,  who  narrowly 
escaped  drowning  in  Boston  Harbor,  owing  to  the  capsizing 
of  a  sailboat. 

After  graduating  he  resumed  the  study  of  medicine  and  in 

144 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


the  autumn  and  winter  of  1853-54  attended  a  course  of  lec- 
tures at  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  of  Philadelphia.  The 
summer  of  1854,  having  received  the  degree  of  M.D.  from  the 
Worcester  Medical  Institution,  he  spent  with  Dr.  F.  H.  Kelly, 
of  Worcester,  and  in  the  winter  of  1854-55  took  a  second 
course  of  lectures  at  the  Crosby  Street  College  in  New  York, 
and  was  present  at  all  the  surgical  clinics  in  the  city.  In  the 
spring  he  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on  anatomy  at  the 
Worcester  Medical  Institution,  and  during  the  summer  took 
charge  of  the  practice  of  Dr.  Walter  Burnham,  of  Lowell, 
which  gave  him  large  opportunities  for  surgical  instruction. 

He  spent  another  winter,  1855-56,  among  the  hospitals  of 
New  York,  where  he  took  particular  care  to  advance  his  surgi- 
cal knowledge.  In  the  spring  of  1856  he  opened  an  office  on 
Front  Street  in  Worcester,  and  entered  upon  a  successful 
practice. 

In  1857  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Sur- 
gery in  the  Cincinnati  Medical  College,  which  led  to  his  select- 
ing that  city  as  a  place  of  permanent  settlement.  In  1863  he 
was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  Anatomy  in  the  Eclectic  Medical 
Institute  of  Cincinnati,  and  in  1871  was  made  Professor  of 
Surgery  in  the  same  institution  —  a  position  which  he  held 
during  his  life.  Surgery  now  became  the  main  interest  of 
his  pursuit,  and  he  practised  it  with  great  success,  maintaining 
a  high  reputation  as  an  operator.  He  travelled  extensively  in 
the  exercise  of  his  profession,  and  answered  surgical  calls  in 
twenty  different  States.  He  wrote  for  publication  early  in  his 
professional  life.  His  first  book  was  "  Fractures  and  Disloca- 
tions," 1870.  It  was  followed  by  "  The  Art  and  Science  of 
Surgery  " ;  by  "  A  Manual  of  Eye  and  Ear  Surgery,"  and 
by  "  Operative  Gynaecology,"  1890.  A  collection  of  "  Miscel- 
laneous Papers,"  mostly  on  subjects  not  strictly  professional 
but  of  scientific  or  literary  interest,  was  published  by  his 
widow  after  his  death.  He  designed  a  large  portion  of  the 
cuts  in  his  books  and  papers.  He  wrote,  monthly,  a  surgical 
article  and  some  editorial  miscellaneous  matter  for  the  "  Ec- 
lectic Medical  Journal."  He  was  a  member  of  various  Eclectic 
Organizations;  of  the  Ohio  State,  and  the  National  Medical, 

145 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Associations,  and  later  of  the  Eclectic  Medical  Society  of 
Cincinnati.  In  1882  he  was  elected  President  of  the  National 
Medical  Association  at  its  annual  meeting  in  New  Haven.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  prominent  members  of  the  Cincinnati 
Society  of  Natural  History,  and  many  of  his  "  Miscellane- 
ous Papers  "  on  such  subjects  as  "  Darwinism,"  "  Heredity," 
"  Depressions  in  the  Earth's  Surface,"  and  "  The  Autopsy  of 
an  Elephant,"  were  read  before  it.  He  was  also  a  member  of 
the  University  Club,  the  Cuvier  Club,  and  the  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science. 

One  visit  to  Europe  and  one  to  the  Pacific  coast,  with  an 
occasional  brief  sojourn  in  his  native  State,  comprise  almost 
all  of  his  vacations. 

Dr.  Howe  was  interested  in  religious  movements  and  fre- 
quently assisted,  according  to  his  means,  different  organiza- 
tions. The  body  with  which  he  felt  the  closest  ties  was  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

Howe  died  suddenly,  on  January  16,  1892,  of  blood  poison- 
ing, the  result  of  a  carbuncle.  He  was  married,  on  February 
8,  1858,  to  Georgiana,  daughter  of  George  S.  Lakin,  of  Pax- 
ton,  Massachusetts,  but  had  no  children.  His  wife  survived 
him. 

EDWARD    ROWLAND, 

Son  of  BENJAMIN  JENKINS  and  HANNAH  (CLARK)  HOW- 
LAND,  was  born  in  the  city  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  on 
the  1 5th  of  September,  1832.  He  was  the  ninth  descendant 
in  a  direct  line  from  John  Howland  who  came  over  in  the 
"  Mayflower." 

Born  in  the  South  of  Northern  parents,  he  could  not  call 
himself  either  a  Northerner  or  a  Southerner.  In  1846  his 
family  removed  to  Boston.  While  there  he  was  placed  for  a 
year  in  a  school  at  Jamaica  Plain  kept  by  Charles  U.  Green, 
and  for  the  rest  of  the  time  in  the  Hopkins  Classical  School 
at  Cambridge.  He  then  went  to  New  York  City,  expecting 
to  study  a  year  before  entering  Harvard,  and,  finding  himself 
fitted  for  the  New  York  University,  he  passed  "  a  triumphant 
examination  upon  books  he  had  never  read,"  and  became  a 

146 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


member  of  the  Class  of  1852  in  that  institution.  With  it 
he  remained  for  a  year  and  a  half.  His  intention  was  to  join 
the  Class  of  1853  at  Cambridge  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
term  Freshman,  but  he  was  prevented  by  sickness  from  leav- 
ing New  York  before  the  middle  of  April,  1850,  when  he 
passed  through  the  formalities  necessary  to  make  him  a 
member  of  it. 

He  seemed  to  enjoy  college  life,  was  extremely  popular  with 
all,  was  elected  to  the  most  desirable  societies,  the  Hasty  Pud- 
ding and  the  Alpha  Delta  Phi,  and  it  was  probably  in  an  un- 
wonted moment  of  depression  that  he  wrote  in  the  class-book 
on  leaving,  that  "  he  was  tired  of  the  irksome  routine  and 
disgusted  with  the  petty  restraints  of  college  life;  he  looked 
forward  with  pleasure  to  its  end/'  but  he  said  on  graduation 
that  "  of  his  class  he  should  always  retain  the  most  pleasant 
associations  and  that  the  years  spent  in  company  with  its 
members  had  been  the  most  improving  and  agreeable  of  his 
life." 

Howland's  career  in  after  life  was  unusual.  While  in  col- 
lege his  tastes  and  ideas  were  conservative  and  conventional 
and  he  looked  forward  to  architecture  as  a  profession,  but  in 
course  of  time  he  abandoned  all  this,  passed  from  Bohemian 
journalism  to  communistic  theories,  and  finally  died  a  member 
of  a  socialist  community  in  Mexico.  After  representing  for 
seven  years  his  father,  a  prominent  cotton-broker  of  Wall 
Street,  known  down  in  town  as  "  old  Ben  Howland,"  and 
being  located  at  different  times  at  Memphis,  New  Orleans, 
Boston,  and  elsewhere,  he  took  up  literary  work,  for  which  he 
always  had  a  taste,  and  with  others  established  the  "  Saturday 
Press,"  founded  October  29,  1858,  which  existed  for  about 
three  years.  Its  editor  was  Henry  Clapp,  a  man  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  doctrines  of  Charles  Fourier.  William  Winter 
in  his  "  Old  Friends  "  has  described  the  resort  of  the  Bohe- 
mians of  1859-60,  known  as  "  Pfaff's  Cave,"  beneath  the  side- 
walk of  Broadway,  where  Clapp,  who  subsisted  chiefly  on 
coffee  and  tobacco,  presided.  Winter  declares  that  no  literary 
circle  comparable  with  the  Bohemian  group  of  that  period,  in 
ardor  of  genius,  variety  of  character,  and  singularity  of 

147 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


achievement,  has  since  existed  in  New  York,  nor  has  any 
group  of  writers  in  our  country  been  so  ignorantly  misrepre- 
sented and  maligned.  But  Winter,  who  mentions  Rowland's 
name,  has  nothing  special  to  say  about  him. 

Howland  put  all  the  money  he  had  into  the  "  Saturday 
Press,"  and  even  sold  a  fine  collection  of  books  to  feed  the 
fires  of  that  enterprise.  During  this  period  he  became  an 
indefatigable  student  of  Fourier's  works,  and  to  this  study, 
more  than  to  all  other  sources  combined,  were  due  his  social- 
istic convictions. 

After  the  collapse  of  the  "  Saturday  Press "  he  became 
connected  with  the  old  bookselling  firm  of  Philes  &  Company, 
and  went  abroad  many  times  searching  for  and  buying  old 
books,  and  making  trips  to  Europe  to  attend  book-auctions. 
The  above  company  published  at  that  time  a  periodical  called 
"  The  Philobiblion."  Its  catalogue  and  bulletin  contained  a 
great  deal  of  valuable  information  upon  rare  books,  furnished 
largely  by  Howland.  The  firm  mentioned  went  down,  like 
many  others,  soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War.  In 
the  meantime  he  had  collected  for  himself  a  library  of  curious 
books  of  over  two  thousand  volumes,  among  which  may  be 
specially  noted  a  presentation  copy  of  the  Bibliotheca  Ameri- 
cana V etustissima  —  a  history  and  elaborate  description,  with 
facsimiles  of  texts  and  illustrations,  of  all  works  relating  to 
America  between  1492  and  1551,  of  which  only  five  hundred 
copies  were  printed,  with  ten  extra  copies  in  quarto  for  private 
distribution.  Besides  this  very  costly  work  the  collection  con- 
tained books  printed  by  Aldus,  Elzevir,  Baskerville,  and  Ben- 
jamin Franklin. 

Howland  wrote  much  anonymously  for  newspapers  and 
magazines,  but  during  his  early  life  had  the  greatest  aversion 
to  seeing  his  name  in  print.  For  years  he  contributed  matter 
to  New  York  dailies,  especially  to  the  "  Daily  Graphic,"  as 
well  as  jokes  and  jeux  d 'esprit  to  the  comic  papers. 

Rowland's  literary  life  was  passed  in  the  city  of  New  York; 
in  Europe ;  at  Hammonton,  New  Jersey ;  with  a  residence  of 
some  years  in  Europe,  including  St.  John's  Wood,  London, 
the  Arundel  Hotel  in  the  Strand,  the  outskirts  of  Amster- 

148 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


dam  and  elsewhere.  During  this  period,  in  1865,  ne  married 
in  Scotland  Mrs.  Marie  Stevens-Case,  a  lady  of  literary  ac- 
complishments and  congenial  tastes,  and  the  union  seemed  to 
have  been  happy  beyond  the  average  matrimonial  experience. 
She  was  the  translator  of  a  Fourierite  work  by  Godin,  and 
the  author  of  several  novels,  and  shared  all  her  husband's 
socialistic  enthusiasms.  Their  wedding  journey  through  Scot- 
land with  Scott  for  a  guide-book  was  especially  delightful. 

Life  in  New  Jersey  formed  a  distinct  episode  in  Rowland's 
life.  It  was  begun  in  Hammonton,  in  what  Mrs.  Rowland 
has  called  a  "  barn,"  hired  of  friends,  but  which  must  have 
been  more  or  less  adapted  for  a  dwelling-house,  for  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Rowland  not  only  lived  in  it,  but  at  one  time  kept  school 
and  entertained  company  there.  Later  a  home  was  bought 
on  high  ground,  near  the  village  of  Hammonton,  consisting 
of  twenty-two  acres  of  land  and  a  house.  For  nearly  twenty- 
three  years  they  worked  there,  built  additions  to  the  house,  a 
fine  barn,  and  many  other  valuable  improvements.  This  was 
the  abode  christened  "  Casa  Tonti,"  where  Mrs.  Rowland  says 
were  passed  the  most  glorious  days  of  their  life,  and  which 
formed  the  subject  of  a  short  story  written  by  her,  published 
in  "  Harper's  Magazine  "  for  March,  1883.  The  house  was 
profusely  decorated  by  the  hand  of  the  owner  with  illuminated 
inscriptions  on  walls  and  doors,  mostly  quotations  from  so- 
cialistic and  other  authors,  such  as  Fourier's  celebrated  "  At- 
tractions are  proportional  to  Destinies."  One  door  was  nearly 
covered  by  the  propositions  of  Herbert  Spencer.  On  the  front 
of  the  veranda  was  printed  in  large  red  letters  the  word 
SALVE!  But  the  most  pleasant  in  effect  of  all  the  mottoes 
was  one  from  the  Persian,  done  with  especial  brilliancy,  so 
placed  as  to  meet  the  eye  of  a  guest  sitting  opposite,  "  Of 
all  men  thy  guest  is  the  superior."  Horticulture  and  pomi- 
culture were  carried  on  at  "  Casa  Tonti "  without  much  view 
to  commercial  profit  but  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  pro- 
prietors. Sympathetic  guests  frequently  visited  them. 

While  at  New  York  and  "  Casa  Tonti "  Rowland  wrote 
the  "  Life  of  General  Grant,"  "  Progress  of  Industry  in  the 
United  States,"  "  Banks  and  Banking,"  "  Railroads  in  Europe 

149 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


and  America,"  "  The  Treasury,"  "  Modern  and  Antique  Finan- 
cial Methods." 

When  the  order  called  "  The  Patrons  of  Husbandry,"  popu- 
larly known  as  the  "  Granger  Movement,"  was  inaugurated, 
Howland  aided  it  with  enthusiasm.  It  was  to  a  certain  extent 
a  secret  society  with  its  lodges,  called  granges,  its  initiations 
and  ritual.  The  first  Grange  of  South  Jersey  was  organized 
at  "  Casa  Tonti  "  and  its  first  members  were  initiated  there. 
Howland  was  chosen  Master  of  the  New  Jersey  State  Grange 
and  represented  it  in  the  seventh  annual  meeting  of  the  Na- 
tional Grange  at  St.  Louis,  in  December,  1873.  The  object 
of  the  society  was  the  freedom  of  the  agricultural  producer 
from  all  the  ills  he  had  to  endure  —  from  monopolies  of  all 
kinds,  railroads,  protectionist  tariffs,  professional  politicians, 
and  damaging  legislation  generally.  But,  being  more  of  a 
scholar  and  thinker  than  a  practised  moderator  of  a  meeting, 
he  sometimes  found  it  difficult  to  sustain  the  latter  character. 
However  he  got  along  somehow,  and  everybody  loved  him. 

Howland  also  became  much  interested  in  the  "  greenback  " 
movement,  and  wrote  on  its  behalf  for  the  journals  which 
advocated  "  fiat  money."  His  theory  was  that  from  the  barter 
of  savages  the  normal  development  is  from  the  wholly  mate- 
rial (intrinsic  value)  up  to  the  wholly  symbolic,  its  base  being 
the  honor  and  good  faith  of  the  Commonwealth  issuing  it. 

Among  Howland's  intimate  friends  and  visitors  were  Al- 
bert Brisbane,  whose  wealth  enabled  him  to  promote  the  so- 
cialist cause  by  procuring  the  translation  of  some  of  Fourier's 
works,  and  Albert  K.  Owen,  whose  enthusiasm  for  a  projected 
cooperative  colony  in  Sinaloa,  Mexico,  attracted  Howland's 
interest  and  led  to  the  last  enterprise  of  his  life.  The  "  Credit 
Foncier  "  was  an  institution  of  Mr.  Owen's  founding,  among 
the  many  projects  of  his  active  mind.  To  leave  his  home  in 
New  Jersey,  when  no  longer  young,  and  to  transport  himself 
to  an  unknown  region  on  the  other  side  of  the  continent  and 
under  new  social  conditions,  would  have  daunted  a  mind  less 
sanguine  than  Howland's.  Added  to  other  drawbacks,  his 
health  was  now  failing;  he  walked  with  difficulty,  and  suf- 
fered from  weakness,  his  malady  not  being  fully  understood 

150 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


by  his  physicians.  But  the  great  undertaking  was  finally  re- 
solved upon,  and  there  came  a  sad  farewell  to  the  much-loved 
"  Casa  Tonti,"  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rowland  took  leave  of 
their  circle  of  friends  on  the  evening  of  May  10,  1888,  at 
New  York.  The  journey  was  by  rail  to  Guaymas  on  the  Gulf 
of  California,  where  they  were  delayed  three  months,  waiting 
for  freight  and  through  ignorance  of  custom-house  require- 
ments. At  last  they  got  away  from  Guaymas  and  were  nine 
days  on  the  water,  stayed  by  contrary  winds,  before  reaching 
their  destination,  —  the  bay  and  town  of  Topolobampo.  How- 
land's  decline  was  so  perfectly  regular  and  gradual  that,  up 
to  the  time  of  an  attack  at  Guaymas,  there  were  no  markings 
or  stations  in  the  disease.  After  that  there  were  several,  but 
at  long  intervals.  The  last,  from  which  he  could  not  rally, 
occurred  in  December,  1890,  and  on  Christmas  morning  fol- 
lowing he  breathed  his  last  at  that  part  of  the  settlement,  called 
"  La  Logia,"  devoted  to  farm  and  orchard  work.  During  his 
life  in  Sinaloa  his  interest  in  the  movement  was  unabated,  and 
he  wrote  occasionally  for  the  "  Credit  Foncier  of  Sinaloa,"  the 
newspaper  organ  of  the  Society,  sometimes  producing  verse 
of  a  quality  quite  above  the  average.  The  following  letter 
from  him  to  the  Class  Secretary  will  give  an  idea  of  his 
mental  attitude  towards  the  future  of  the  world,  and  his  re- 
gard for  the  old  friends  of  his  youth.  Rowland  had  no 
children. 

LA  LOGIA,  SINALOA,  MEXICO,  February  21,  1889. 
MY  DEAR  SHAW: 

To  my  delighted  surprise  I  received,  by  the  last  mail  we  had 
from  the  North,  yours  dated  February  6th,  1889.  This  shows 
the  modern  era  as  well  as  a  page  of  reflection  could  do.  When  I 
came  to  dating  this,  which  I  did  from  a  Boston  calendar  the  pub- 
lisher of  which  kindly  sent  me  a  package  of,  the  remarkable  pro- 
pinquity, if  I  may  be  allowed  the  word,  struck  me  more  forcibly 
than  ever  before.  You  see  less  than  a  month  separated  us,  though 
we  are  thousands  of  miles  apart.  It  has  been  constantly  a 'matter 
of  great  regret  to  me  that  I  have  so  entirely  lost  the  association 
(I  have  not  lost  the  memory)  of  my  class-mates.  Here  in  Sin- 
aloa I  have  given  practical  proof  that  I  still  belong  to  the  human 
family,  and  that,  though  circumstances  have  led  us  apart,  the 

151 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


college  association  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  have  enjoyed  so 
long  with  yourself  and  others  still  remains  one  of  the  chiefest 
memories  I  value.  I  still  have  the  set  of  photographs  of  the  class, 
though  I  have  left  them  in  charge  of  Mrs.  Edward  Rowland,  a 
person  you  have  never  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting,  but  who  is 
in  the  interest  of  the  "  Credit  Fonder,"  the  newspaper  organ  of 
the  society  to  which  we  are  both  devoted,  and  who  remains  at 
Topolobampo,  where  it  is  published.  All  this  is  probably  San- 
scrit to  you.  But  I  shall  take  the  pleasant  liberty  of  sending  you 
copies  of  the  sheet  of  which  she  is  the  editor,  and  from  which 
you  can  get  more  information  of  the  reasons  that  led  us  here  than 
I  could  give  you  by  writing  a  volume.  Its  title  is  the  "  Credit 
Foncier  of  Sinaloa,"  for  the  system  of  holding  land  only  for 
natural  use  and  then  making  such  use  of  its  products  as  shall  put 
them  to  the  use  intended  by  nature,  the  support  of  human  life. 
It  is  the  abuse  of  this  system  which  we  hold  has  produced  the 
poverty  of  the  world.  There  is  an  abundance  produced  for  all, 
but  the  monopoly  of  a  part  produced  leads  to  the  destitution  of 
the  large  mass  of  every  civilized  nation.  The  stories  of  the  in- 
dustry of  all  nations  show  that  this  condition  has  always  prevailed. 
It  did  in  Rome  and  in  Greece.  But  there  as  here  charity  was  the 
only  help  proposed.  The  "  Credit  Foncier,"  a  society  owned  in 
New  York,  with  a  branch  here,  by  the  promise  of  integral  coop- 
eration claims  it  can  be  stopped.  And  now  comes  the  bicycle 
railroad  which  runs  on  a  single  rail  and  will  go  easily  one  hundred 
miles  an  hour.  Owen  has  gone  to  England.  The  crisis  is  upon 
us  and  I  shall  be  there.  I  am  tired  and  must  close.  Write  me  if 
you  get  this  and  I  will  repeat  it. 

Yours  truly, 

EDWARD  HOWLAND. 

CHARLES    HENRY    KURD, 

Son  of  JOHN  and  PERSIS  (HuxcHiNs)  KURD,  was  born 
at  Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  on  the  7th  of  January, 

1833- 

After  attending  schools  in  Charlestown  he  entered  the  Bos- 
ton Latin  School  in  1844,  and  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849. 
He  was  one  of  the  crew  of  the  "  Oneida  "  that  rowed  and 
won  in  the  first  Harvard- Yale  boat-race  on  August  3,  1852, 
a  race  memorable  as  the  first  American  intercollegiate  re- 

152 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


gatta.  His  part  at  Commencement  was  an  essay — "Bishop 
Hall's  Satires." 

After  graduation  he  passed  a  year  at  the  Harvard  Law 
School,  and  continued  his  legal  studies  at  Dover,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  Bar  on  May  28,  1856. 
He  was  associated  in  practice  for  a  short  time  with  G.  Wash- 
ington Warren,  and  later  with  his  classmate,  Charles  J.  Paine. 
On  May  26,  1859,  he  was  married  to  Julia,  daughter  of  Elisha 
and  Eunice  (Lombard)  Edwards,  of  Springfield,  Massachu- 
setts, and  sister  of  the  distinguished  General  Oliver  Edwards. 

His  partner  left  him  to  take  a  commission  in  a  Massachu- 
setts regiment  in  1861,  and  it  was  his  desire  to  serve  his 
country  at  the  first  call  for  troops,  but  he  yielded  to  the  en- 
treaties of  his  wife  and  the  claims  of  his  infant  daughters 
until  those  of  his  country  became  too  strong  for  love  of  home 
to  resist.  At  a  meeting  held  in  Charlestown  early  in  July, 
1862,  he  signed  his  name  as  a  volunteer,  declaring  his  inten- 
tion to  go  as  a  private  until  he  had  won  the  right  to  a  com- 
mission. His  was  eminently  a  soldierly  character.  He  had 
a  strong  body  and  a  noble  spirit.  He  bore  all  the  hardships 
of  war  cheerfully  and  wore  all  his  honors  with  great  modesty. 
He  was  not  allowed  to  go  as  a  private.  He  declined  the  offer 
of  a  captaincy  and  accepted  the  commission  of  First  Lieuten- 
ant in  the  32d  Regiment  of  Massachusetts  Volunteers  by 
reason  only  of  the  urgent  need  of  educated  officers.  Part  of 
what  afterwards  constituted  that  regiment  had  been  sent  to 
the  front  in  May,  and  had  joined  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
at  Harrison's  Landing  after  the  seven  days'  Peninsular  fight- 
ing. The  battalion  of  three  companies,  Kurd's  being  Com- 
pany I,  joined  the  others  at  the  end  of  Pope's  campaign  on 
September  3.  For  the  rest  of  the  year  1862  he  shared  the 
fortunes  of  the  32d.  During  the  movement  northward  to 
meet  Lee's  first  invasion  he  had  hard  marching  enough,  and 
the  name  of  Antietam  heads  the  list  of  his  battles,  though  his 
regiment,  which  was  in  the  ist  Division  of  Fitz-John  Porter's 
5th  Army  Corps,  was  not  called  into  action  on  that  eventful 
day,  but  remained  spectators  of  the  fighting  from  the  further 
side  of  the  river.  The  army  followed  Lee  into  Virginia; 

153 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


McClellan  was  superseded  by  Burnside,  under  whose  auspices 
occurred,  on  December  13,  1862,  what  has  been  called  "  the 
horror  of  Fredericksburg,"  "  a  battle  without  plan  and  with- 
out result."  The  32d  was,  in  Hurd's  words,  "  no  longer  the 
bloodless  but  the  gallant  and  bloody"  regiment.  It  was  led 
into  the  hottest  of  the  fight  and  up  to  within  forty  yards  of 
the  Confederate  batteries  at  the  stone  wall,  but  none  of  its 
officers  failed  in  his  duty.  In  the  opinion  of  the  brigade 
commander  the  safety  of  the  army  depended  upon  their 
holding  the  position.  Kurd  re-crossed  the  Rappahannock 
unhurt. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1863  Kurd  was  transferred 
from  the  32d  to  become  Assistant  Adjutant-General,  with  the 
rank  of  Captain,  on  the  staff  of  General  David  Allan  Russell, 
commanding  the  3d  Brigade  of  the  ist  Division  of  Sedgwick's 
6th  Army  Corps,  whom  he  joined  on  January  12,  and  whom 
he  learned  to  regard  with  enthusiastic  admiration.  In  the 
fighting  about  Chancellorsville  on  May  3,  1863,  Sedgwick's 
6th  Corps  coming  up  from  the  former  battle-ground  of  Fred- 
ericksburg stormed  Marye's  Heights,  the  most  successful  oper- 
ation of  that  campaign,  but  did  not  succeed  in  drawing  the 
enemy  from  Salem  Church.  Owing  to  Hooker's  failure  to 
cooperate  as  was  expected,  the  6th  Corps  was  obliged  to  shift 
for  itself,  and  Sedgwick  skilfully  extricated  himself  from  a 
perilous  position.  In  Hurd's  record  his  share  in  the  Chancel- 
lorsville campaign  is  noted  under  the  head  of  the  2d  Battle 
of  Fredericksburg  and  Salem  Heights.  There  was  much  re- 
semblance between  Hurd's  experience  in  1862  and  that  in 
1863;  a  return  to  the  North  of  the  Potomac  to  meet  Lee's 
second  invasion,  presence  at  a  great  battle  without  active  par- 
ticipation in  it,  a  pursuit  of  Lee's  army  back  into  Virginia, 
and  hard  fighting  at  the  end  of  the  year.  Sedgwick's  Corps 
arrived  at  Gettysburg  on  the  second  day  of  July  and  of  the 
battle,  after  an  exhausting  march  from  Manchester  of  more 
than  thirty  miles,  and  was  held  in  reserve  that  night.  The 
next  day  Russell's  brigade  was  placed  in  position  at  the  left 
of  the  Union  line  and  was  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  enemy 
but  without  fighting,  the  whole  loss  to  the  brigade  being  two 

154 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


wounded.  It  was  employed  in  following  up  Lee  on  the  5th, 
and  the  two  skirmishes  of  Fairfield  and  Funkstown  appear 
in  the  list  of  Kurd's  engagements.  In  November  he  found 
himself  again  on  the  banks  of  the  Rappahannock,  where  he 
had  the  good  fortune  to  take  part  in  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
and  most  completely  successful  affairs  of  the  war,  the  assault 
and  capture  of  the  Confederate  redoubts  and  rifle-pits  at  Rap- 
pahannock Station,  in  which  103  officers,  1200  enlisted  men, 
1225  stand  of  arms  and  8  battle-flags  were  taken.  For  his 
services  on  this  occasion  he  gained  honorable  mention.  The 
general  order  congratulating  the  officers  and  soldiers  was 
written  by  him.  Towards  the  end  of  the  month  preparations 
were  making  to  attack  Lee  in  his  position  on  Mine  Run,  south 
of  the  Rapidan,  and  on  the  27th  Russell's  brigade  was  hur- 
ried forward  to  the  assistance  of  French's  3d  Corps,  which 
had  met  with  serious  resistance  near  a  place  called  Locust 
Grove  Point.  Its  arrival  relieved  the  3d  Corps,  the  whole 
attempt  was  abandoned,  and  the  army  soon  found  itself  back 
in  winter  quarters  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rapidan.  The 
attempt  adds  the  name  of  Mine  Run  to  the  list  of  Kurd's 
battles. 

In  1864  fortune  was  not  to  be  so  propitious  to  Kurd.  Hav- 
ing got  safely  through  the  earlier  engagements  in  Grant's 
Wilderness  campaign,  he  was,  towards  the  end  of  the  day  of 
May  12  at  Spottsylvania  Court  House,  seriously  and  danger- 
ously wounded  by  a  minie  ball  in  the  left  thigh,  which  dis- 
abled him  for  the  rest  of  the  year.  He  had  been  sent  to 
order  up  a  regiment,  had  dismounted  in  search  of  the  colonel, 
and  found  him  with  difficulty  lying  covered  up  among  his 
exhausted  men.  The  bullet  was  promptly  extracted,  and  he 
was  advised  by  the  surgeon  to  get  home  as  fast  as  possible 
in  preference  to  going  into  hospital  at  Washington.  Assisted 
by  his  faithful  colored  servant,  Adam,  he  reached  home  at 
Charlestown  suffering  intensely.  By  the  most  assiduous  at- 
tention he  was  restored  to  health  and  strength,  though  for 
the  rest  of  his  life  he  continued  to  feel  the  .effects  of  the 
wound.  He  had  had  previous  leaves  of  absence  on  the  oc- 
casion of  his  father's  death,  and  for  the  purpose  of  raising 

155 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


a  band  for  General  Russell's  brigade.  During  his  absence 
from  the  army  his  friend,  General  Russell,  was  killed  at  the 
battle  of  Opequan  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley. 

In  March,  1865,  he  arrived  in  Virginia,  and  on  the  25th 
reported  to  General  Weitzel,  commanding  the  25th  Army 
Corps  of  the  Army  of  the  James,  at  headquarters  on  the 
north  side  of  that  river.  The  reputation  which  he  had  ac- 
quired is  shown  in  the  demand  made  by  two  distinguished 
officers  for  the  benefit  of  his  services.  General  John  W. 
Turner,  commanding  the  so-called  "  Independent  Division  " 
of  the  24th  Army  Corps,  had  heard  of  him,  and  wrote  to 
Weitzel  that  he  was  just  the  sort  of  man  he  wanted  at  once 
to  straighten  out  his  division.  "  Captain,"  said  Weitzel  to 
Hurd,  "  I  hate  to  lose  you  from  my  corps,  for  I  too  know 
your  antecedents  and  want  you  and  need  you,  and  shall  tell 
Turner  how  much  I  am  sacrificing  to  friendship."  In  this 
way  he  became  Assistant  Adjutant  to  Turner.  Operations 
against  the  defences  of  Petersburg  were  just  beginning.  The 
James  was  crossed  on  the  27th.  Of  the  assault  and  capture 
of  Fort  Gregg,  the  last  of  the  Confederate  strongholds,  on 
April  2,  under  a  terrific  fire,  Hurd  maintained  that  the  credit 
was  due,  all  reports  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  to 
Foster's  and  his  own  divisions,  the  latter  having  planted  the 
first  flag  on  the  ramparts.  Petersburg  having  been  evacuated, 
the  race  with  Lee's  broken  army  to  the  westward  followed, 
in  the  course  of  which  Hurd  had  a  hairbreadth  escape,  a 
spherical  case  bursting  just  over  his  head  and  killing  a  man 
within  ten  feet  of  him.  On  the  9th  of  April  the  division 
arrived  on  the  brow  of  the  hill  overlooking  Appomattox 
Court  House,  where  negotiations  between  Grant  and  Lee  were 
going  on.  By  four  in  the  afternoon  all  anxiety  was  removed 
by  the  announcement  that  Lee  had  surrendered.  "  This  glori- 
ous issue,"  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  "crowned  all  our  labors, 
our  anxieties,  fighting,  marching,  sleeplessness,  and  hunger." 
Elsewhere  he  said  that  he  would  have  gladly  sacrificed  life 
or  health  to  gain  that  result.  While  in  camp  at  Richmond 
he  had  his  hands  full  of  business,  and  was  brevetted  Major 
of  Volunteers  for  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct,  as  of  March 

156 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


13,  and  honorably  mustered  out  on  the  I9th  of  September 
following. 

For  the  immediate  support  of  his  family  he  engaged  in  the 
leather  business  in  Boston,  but  this  proving  unsatisfactory, 
he  in  1870  or  1871  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law  at  Boston 
and  continued  in  it  until  his  death,  which  occurred  from 
pleuro-pneumonia  after  four  days*  illness,  at  Dorchester,  April 
25>  1877. 

Hurd  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  press.  He  was  fond 
of  translating  Horace  and  German  poetry,  and  occasionally 
wrote  original  verses  which  show  much  tenderness  of  feeling. 
A  poem  entitled  "  My  Reb  Canteen  "  commemorates  an  in- 
cident of  the  war,  —  his  dismounting  to  give  a  dying  Con- 
federate soldier  water  from  his  own  canteen,  the  soldier's 
death,  and  the  preservation  of  the  dead  man's  canteen  as  a 
relic  hanging  by  his  own.  He  sometimes  indulged  in  a  lit- 
erary hoax,  and  that  on  the  "  Punishments  of  the  Aztecs," 
the  wildest  of  fictions,  had  a  newspaper  success. 

A  friend  writing  at  the  time  of  his  decease  described  him 
as  one  of  the  manliest  of  men.  "  He  was  made  with  a  splen- 
did physical  form,  his  very  presence  giving  assurance  of  regal 
health  and  high  mental  vigor.  How  vigorously  he  threw 
away  to  every  one  of  the  exuberance  of  that  manly  nature! 
His  heart  and  hand  were  always  open.  And  yet  not  many 
knew  him,  for  he  hid  his  best  life  in  his  reverential  love  for 
kindred  and  household."  He  was  indeed  generous  to  a  fault, 
both  in  money  and  in  gratuitous  service. 

Julia  Edwards  Hurd,  widow  of  Charles  H.  Hurd,  died  at 
Dorchester,  September  24,  1911.  Their  children  were :  Susan 
Barnes,  born  February  28,  1860;  Louisa  Ripley,  born  April 
29,  1861;  Charles  Russell,  born  September  30,  1864;  Julia 
Edwards,  born  September  16,  1865;  Grace,  born  March  10, 
1867;  Oliver  Edwards,  born  June  4,  1868;  Benjamin,  born 
February  25,  1870;  Harold,  born  December  17,  1872. 

JOHN    WILLSON    HUTCHINS, 

Son  of  EZRA  C.  and  AUGUSTA  (Si.  CLAIR)  HUTCHINS, 
was  born  at  Portland,  Maine,  July  28,  1832. 

157. 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


He  entered  Harvard  from  the  Boston  Latin  School,  as 
Freshman,  in  1849. 

On  graduation  he  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Simon  Whit- 
ney, of  Framingham,  and  at  the  Harvard  Medical  School, 
where  he  received  the  degree  of  M.D.  in  1858.  In  the  same 
year  he  settled  at  Mil  ford,  Massachusetts.  He  removed  to 
South  Framingham  in  1861,  lived  there  for  ten  years,  and 
built  up  a  large  and  successful  practice.  During  this  period 
he  travelled  in  Europe  and  spent  several  months  in  visiting 
hospitals  in  the  study  of  his  profession. 

In  1871,  being  desirous  of  a  larger  field,  he  left  Framing- 
ham  for  Chicago,  to  the  great  regret  of  his  patients  and  the 
public.  At  Chicago  he  was  very  successful  as  a  general  prac- 
titioner. His  skill  in  diagnosis  was  remarkable,  and  he  rarely 
made  a  mistake.  He  was  for  many  years  Superintendent  of 
the  Central  Free  Dispensary  connected  with  the  Rush  Medical 
College.  He  was  a  modest  and  retiring  man,  but  one  who 
gained  the  love  and  confidence  of  his  patients  to  a  great  degree. 
He  died  at  his  home  in  Chicago,  of  apoplexy,  on  August  7, 
1890,  after  an  illness  of  a  few  hours. 

Hutchins  was  married  at  Framingham,  on  December  i, 
1859,  to  Anna  L.,  daughter  of  Lawson  Kingsbury.  He  left 
a  widow  and  two  children:  Alice  Augusta,  born  April  25, 
1862,  married  October  25,  1883,  to  Herman  D.  Cable:  Helen 
Louise,  born  June  28,  1869,  married  April  25,  1895,  to  Francis 
Sargent  Shaw. 

GEORGE    SMITH    HYDE, 

Son  of  MICHAEL  SMITH  and  MARIA  (PARKER)  HYDE, 
was  born  at  Boston  on  June  29,  1831. 

After  preliminary  education  in  the  Franklin  Grammar 
School  of  Boston,  where  he  gained  a  Franklin  Medal,  he  en- 
tered the  Boston  Latin  School  in  1844,  and  took  the  complete 
course  of  five  years.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Freshman  Class 
at  Harvard  in  1849.  His  part  at  Commencement  was  a  Latin 
oration,  "  De  Cultu  et  Humanitate  Byzantinorum."  He  began 
the  study  of  medicine  in  the  Harvard  Medical  School  imme- 
diately after  graduating,  and  during  the  last  year  of  study 

158 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


therein  filled  the  situation  of  house-pupil  in  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital,  taking  his  degree  of  M.D.  in  1856. 

Soon  after  leaving  the  hospital  he  accepted  the  place  of 
ship's  doctor  on  one  of  Enoch  Train's  ships,  sailing  from 
Boston  to  Liverpool  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  over  immi- 
grants. On  his  return  he  opened  an  office  at  the  corner  of 
Washington  and  Camden  Streets,  and  commenced  a  practice 
which  lasted  nearly  half  a  century,  continuing  it  until  within 
two  years  before  his  death,  when  he  gave  up  work.  He  was 
for  forty  years  the  attendant  physician  at  the  St.  Vincent's 
Orphan  Asylum,  where  he  was  much  beloved  by  those  in 
charge.  He  was  much  interested  in  charitable  work,  espe- 
cially that  of  the  Salvation  Army,  Boston  Industrial  Mission, 
North  End  Mission,  and  the  Board  of  Charities.  He  was 
liberal  with  his  professional  services  to  those  unable  to  pay 
for  them  and,  in  not  a  few  cases,  furnished  them  with  medi- 
cines at  his  own  expense. 

Dr.  Hyde  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  and  Ameri- 
can Medical  Societies  and  of  the  Boston  Latin  School 
Association. 

After  suffering  for  several  years  from  an  affection  of  the 
heart,  Dr.  Hyde  died  somewhat  suddenly  from  a  severe  at- 
tack of  this  disease,  December  n,  1905.  His  funeral,  which 
was  largely  attended,  took  place  on  the  i6th;  his  remains  were 
cremated  at  Forest  Hills  Cemetery  and  his  ashes  there  buried. 

Dr.  Hyde  was  never  married. 

By  his  will  Dr.  Hyde  gave  $50,000,  subject  to  two  life 
interests,  to  Harvard  College,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Medical 
School. 

SAMUEL    EDWIN    IRESON, 

Son  of  SAMUEL  JENKS  and  SARAH  (JOHNSON)  IRESON, 
was  born  at  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  on  October  22,  1830. 

After  the  usual  routine  of  infant  and  preparatory  schools, 
he  was  placed  under  the  care  and  instruction  of  Jacob  Batchel- 
der,  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth,  at  that  time  Principal  of  the 
Lynn  Academy.  Fitted  by  his  instructions,  Ireson  entered 
Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1848.  He  remained  with  the  Class 

159 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


of  1852  until  the  second  term  of  the  Sophomore  year,  and 
soon  after  began  the  study  of  law  at  Boston  in  the  office  of 
Messrs.  Josiah  W.  Hubbard  and  Isaac  Story,  Jr.  At  the  end 
of  a  year,  reflecting  on  the  importance  of  better  preparation 
for  the  future,  and  of  the  opportunity  he  was  neglecting,  he 
hastily  prepared  to  reenter  college,  and  was  admitted,  on 
September  2,  1852,  to  membership  in  the  Class  of  1853,  then 
at  the  commencement  of  its  Senior  year. 

After  his  graduation  Ireson  resumed  his  legal  studies  and 
was  admitted  to  the  Bar  October  7,  1854.  He  continued  to 
reside  at  Lynn,  but  practised  law  at  Boston.  In  1855  he  was 
Assistant  Clerk  of  the  Police  Court  of  Boston.  He  was  elected 
City  Solicitor  of  Lynn  for  the  years  1872,  1873,  l874>  and 
1875,  and  died  in  office  on  September  7  of  the  last-named 
year. 

On  April  27,  1874,  he  married  Ellen,  daughter  of  Isaiah 
Wheeler,  of  Lynn.  His  wife  survived  him,  but  he  left  no 
children.  She  died  in  1903. 

The  following  is  taken  from  an  editorial  notice  in  the 
"Lynn  Transcript"  of  September  n,  1875: 

"  Obituary.  —  We  are  pained  to  have  to  announce  the  fact, 
not  wholly  unexpected,  of  the  decease  of  our  worthy  and 
faithful  City  Solicitor,  S.  Edwin  Ireson,  Esq.,  which  happened 
at  his  residence  on  Tuesday  last.  A  somewhat  long  acquaint- 
ance with  Mr.  Ireson  has  sufficed  to  raise  in  our  minds  a  very 
deep  sense  of  his  talent  and  excellence.  He  was  truly  a  man 
who,  with  only  the  boon  of  a  longer  and  more  healthful  life, 
would  beyond  doubt  have  made  himself  a  name  among  the 
sons  of  Lynn  yet  more  high  and  honorable  than  he  has.  He 
was  educated  at  Harvard,  studied  law  in  Boston,  and  prac- 
tised there  some  years  before  returning,  professionally,  to 
this,  his  native  city.  For  several  years  he  has  been  Solicitor 
to  the  City  Government,  and,  with  no  offence  to  any,  we  may 
say  that  his  faithful  and  very  successful  conduct  of  the  public 
business  has  won  him  peculiar  praise.  But  he  has  early  de- 
veloped the  consumptive  tendency  of  his  family,  and,  though 
struggling'  with  it  by  voyages  abroad  and  faithful  treatment 
at  home,  it  has  finally  mastered  him,  as  so  many  precious 

160 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


lives  beside.  He  was  the  only  son  of  Samuel  J.  Ireson,  Esq., 
of  the  City  Council  of  1850,  and  he  leaves  a  widow  but  no 
family.  His  age  was  forty-four  years." 

CHARLES    JACOBS, 

Son  of  SYLVESTER  and  CYNTHIA  (STEARNS)  JACOBS,  was 
born  at  Groton,  Massachusetts,  June  18,  1832.  He  was  a  de- 
scendant from  Nicholas  Jacobs,  of  Hingham  in  England,  who 
in  1633  settled  at  "  Bare  Cove,"  which  afterward  became 
Hingham  in  Massachusetts.  His  grandfather,  Joshua  Jacobs, 
served  as  Second  Lieutenant  early  in  the  War  of  the  Revo- 
lution, and  as  Captain  in  the  Continental  Army  from  June  i, 
1776,  to  the  close  of  the  war.  His  father  was  a  soldier  in 
the  War  of  1812. 

He  received  his  education  in  the  town  schools  and  in  the 
Groton,  afterward  Lawrence,  Academy.  He  entered  Harvard 
as  Freshman  in  1849,  and  in  the  winters  of  his  Sophomore 
and  Senior  years  kept  school  at  Shirley;  in  that  of  his  Junior 
year  at  Townsend.  His  part  at  Commencement  was  a  dis- 
quisition —  "  Milton  as  a  Controversialist." 

He  intended  on  leaving  college  to  make  the  law  his  profes- 
sion, and  pursued  his  studies  with  various  interruptions  up 
to  the  year  1861,  being  also  occupied  in  the  care  of  his  father's 
farm.  On  March  i,  1855,  he  began  to  study  in  the  office 
of  John  Spaulding,  Jr.,  Esq.,  of  Groton,  where  he  remained 
during  the  years  1855  to  1858.  On  January  15,  1860,  he 
entered  the  office  of  Bradford  Russell,  Esq.,  and  was  with 
him  a  year.  For  a  short  time  he  studied  under  the  direction 
of  his  classmate,  Bennett,  but  he  was  never  admitted  to  the 
Bar.  His  legal  education  was,  however,  not  thrown  away, 
as  he  found  it  useful  in  drawing  papers  and  documents  for 
himself,  his  neighbors  and  friends.  From  1861  to  the  end 
of  his  life  his  business  was  the  cultivation  of  his  paternal 
acres,  one  of  the  finest  farms  in  Groton,  formerly  the  property 
of  Dr.  Oliver  Prescott,  Jr.,  nephew  of  William  Prescott,  the 
patriot. 

In  the  winter  of  1885  he  went  to  Europe  to  be  treated  at 
the  Pasteur  Institute  for  the  bite  of  a  dog  supposed  to  be 

161 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


mad.  The  cure,  if  a  cure,  was  effectual,  and  he  had  no  fur- 
ther trouble  on  that  account.  He  made  this  visit  the  occasion 
of  a  three-months'  tour  in  England,  France,  and  Italy. 

Jacobs  took  an  active  part  in  the  town  affairs  of  Groton. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  School  Committee  from  March, 
1873,  to  April,  1892;  was  Chairman  in  the  years  1885,  1886 
and  1887,  and  served  as  Secretary  for  a  great  part  of  the 
period  of  his  membership.  He  was  Selectman  in  1895  and 
1896.  On  June  17,  1895,  the  Groton  Historical  Society  com- 
memorated the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  when  Jacobs  took  oc- 
casion to  present  a  gun  which  had  been  carried  by  his  grand- 
father in  the  Revolution  and  by  his  father  in  the  War  of 
1812.  The  gun  and  accoutrements  were  accepted  in  behalf 
of  the  Society  by  the  Hon.  George  S.  Bout  well,  with  appro- 
priate remarks. 

Jacobs  died  at  Groton,  January  30,  1899,  of  pneumonia, 
after  a  short  illness.  He  was  never  married. 

AMOS    HOWE    JOHNSON, 

Son  of  SAMUEL  and  CHARLOTTE  ABIGAIL  (HOWE)  JOHN- 
SON, was  born  at  Boston,  August  4,  1831. 

He  received  his  early  education  at  the  Chauncy  Hall  School 
in  Boston;  at  a  private  boarding-school  in  Quincy,  from 
which  he  ran  away;  at  the  Brookfield  Family  School  at  South 
Brookfield  kept  by  the  Rev.  W.  A.  Nichols,  from  which  also 
he  ran  away,  but  to  which  he  was  sent  back,  and  at  the  Phil- 
lips Academy,  Andover,  from  which  he  entered  Harvard  as 
a  Freshman  in  1849.  His  part  at  Commencement  was  a  dis- 
quisition—  "  Charles  the  Fifth  in  Retirement."  Even  in  col- 
lege the  pursuit  of  Natural  History  seemed  with  him  to  be  less 
of  a  task  than  a  recreation.  On  Saturday  mornings,  when 
the  rest  of  us  hurried  off  for  Boston  and  the  frivolities  of  the 
town,  Johnson  would  shoulder  his  fowling-piece  and  go  shoot- 
ing specimens  in  the  woods  of  Cambridge. 

Although  the  bent  of  his  inclinations  was  in  the  direction 
of  natural  science,  deep  religious  feeling  and  his  sense  of  the 
need  of  workers  in  the  Christian  ministry  led  him  to  prepare 
himself  to  become  a  clergyman,  and  with  that  view  he  entered 

162 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


the  Andover  Theological  Seminary  in  September,  1853.  He 
completed  his  course  there  in  1856,  and  on  January  i,  1857, 
was  settled  as  pastor  over  the  Congregational  Church  at  Mid- 
dleton,  Massachusetts. 

Persistent  headaches  and  weakness  of  the  throat  led  him  to 
request  a  dismissal  from  that  pastorate  in  the  spring  of  1861. 
Without  any  seeking  on  his  part,  while  still  a  resident  of 
Middleton,  he  was  elected  to  the  State  House  of  Representa- 
tives for  the  year  1862,  by  the  Twenty- fourth  Essex  District, 
comprising  the  towns  of  Middleton,  Saugus,  and  Lynnfield. 

In  the  spring  of  1862  he  determined  to  study  medicine. 
He  entered  the  Harvard  Medical  School  in  that  year,  and 
took  his  degree  of  M.D.  in  1865.  As  soon  as  practicable  he 
went  to  reside  at  Salem,  and  while  practising  there  was,  for 
a  short  time,  Secretary  of  the  Essex  Institute. 

In  the  autumn  of  1869  he  went  abroad  and  entered  the 
Medical  School  connected  with  the  Hospital  "  La  Charlie  "  at 
Berlin,  where  he  spent  the  following  winter.  In  the  spring 
of  1870  he  visited  Vienna,  in  order  to  attend  the  spring 
courses  of  instruction  in  the  Hospitals.  After  a  summer  in 
Switzerland  he  returned  to  Berlin  and  spent  the  winter  of 
1870-71  in  medical  studies  there.  In  the  spring  of  1871  he 
visited  Paris  during  the  armistice  which  followed  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War,  was  present  at  the  triumphal  entry  of  the  Ger- 
man troops,  and  returned  home  to  recommence  his  medical 
practice  at  Salem. 

It  was  the  beginning  of  an  extremely  busy  and  useful  career. 
He  was,  at  the  time  of  its  foundation  and  for  many  years 
thereafter,  on  the  medical  staff  of  the  Salem  Hospital.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  consulting  board  of  physicians  of  the 
Danvers  Insane  Asylum  and  for  some  time  its  Chairman.  He 
was  for  several  years  Secretary  and  Councillor  of  the  South 
District  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  and  for  two  years  its 
President.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Salem  School  Committee 
in  the  years  1873,  1874,  and  1875. 

In  1876  Johnson  was  a  delegate  from  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  Society  to  the  International  Medical  Congress  at 
Philadelphia.  In  1877  he  served  on  a  Commission  to  investi- 

163 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


gate  the  sanitary  condition  of  Salem  and  made  the  report. 
During  the  same  year,  upon  the  foundation  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Medico-Legal  Society,  he  was  elected  an  Associate  Mem- 
ber. Subsequently,  by  appointment  of  the  Mayor,  he  in- 
spected and  reported  upon  the  sanitary  condition  and  needs 
of  the  public  schools  of  Salem.  In  1882  he  was  chosen  to 
deliver  the  Annual  Oration  at  the  Anniversary  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Medical  Society.  He  was  for  many  years  a  corre- 
spondent of  the  State  Board  of  Health,  to  whose  reports  he 
made  special  contributions.  He  was  a  Deacon  of  the  South 
Church  at  Salem,  a  member  of  the  Essex  Congregational  Club 
and,  in  1889-91,  its  President.  In  1874  he  read  before  the 
club  an  essay  on  the  "  Physiological  Limitations  of  Religious 
Experience/'  which  excited  so  much  interest  that  he  was  in- 
vited to  deliver  a  course  of  lectures  at  the  Andover  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  the  subject  being  "  Some  Physiological  Facts 
to  be  regarded  in  Religious  Teaching  and  Experience."  The 
nine  lectures  thus  delivered  in  1875  were  in  part  repeated  be- 
fore the  Essex  Institute  at  Salem.  It  has  been  said  of  them : 
"  The  moment  of  these  utterances  was  an  especially  timely  one, 
being  the  transition  period  between  the  old  and  the  new 
orthodoxy,  and  Dr.  Johnson's  utterances  undoubtedly  aided 
much  in  the  re-formation  of  orthodox  tenets  and  beliefs." 

In  1889  he  passed  six  months  in  Europe  for  rest  and  recre- 
ation —  his  second  and  last  visit. 

Johnson  married,  on  September  22,  1857,  Frances  Seymour 
Benjamin,  born  at  Athens,  daughter  of  Nathan  and  Mary  A. 
(Wheeler)  Benjamin,  American  missionaries  to  Athens  and 
to  Constantinople. 

He  died  at  Salem,  on  May  12,  1896,  after  a  long  illness  and 
a  painful  disease,  —  cancer  of  the  stomach,  —  leaving  the 
highest  reputation  as  a  man,  a  physician,  a  citizen,  and  a 
Christian. 

Johnson  left  a  widow  and  six  children :  Samuel,  born  July 
1 6,  1860;  Meta  Benjamin,  born  May  7,  1862;  Amy  Howe, 
born  July  23,  1865 ;  Charles  Alfred,  born  July  13,  1868;  Philip 
Seymour,  born  February  26,  1872;  Ralph  Seymour,  born 
May  1 6,  1878. 

164 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


CHARLES    EVERETT    JOHNSON, 

Son  of  FREDERICK  and  NANCY  (CHASE)  JOHNSON,  was 
born  at  Bradford,  Massachusetts,  March  i,  1830.  The  six 
years  previous  to  1848  were  spent,  according  to  his  own  ac- 
count in  the  Class  Book,  "  in  a  grocery  store,  in  the  school 
house,  and  in  sickness." 

He  was  fitted  for  college  at  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  and 
entered  Harvard  in  1 849  as  Freshman.  He  was  the  Class  Day 
Chaplain,  and  at  Commencement  delivered  the  Salutatory 
Oration  in  Latin. 

During  the  first  year  after  graduation  he  was  instructor  in 
the  Classical  Department  of  his  former  school,  the  Phillips 
Academy.  The  following  year  was  spent  in  the  Theological 
Seminary  of  Princeton,  New  Jersey.  Failing  eyesight  pre- 
vented further  study,  and  after  some  time  spent  in  travel  he 
went  into  the  business  which  occupied  the  rest  of  his  active 
life,  that  of  shoe  manufacturing,  first  at  New  Orleans,  later 
at  Cincinnati,  and  finally,  in  partnership  with  his  brother 
George  Johnson,  a  graduate  of  Princeton,  at  Boston.  He  had 
business  relations  with  Boston  as  early  as  1863,  but  ne  does 
not  appear  to  have  resided  there  before  1870,  when  his  busi- 
ness office  was  at  106  Hanover  Street;  afterwards  at  116  Sum- 
mer Street.  He  resided  successively  at  Boston,  Brookline, 
West  Newton,  and  Newton.  He  retired  from  business  in 
1890,  and  lived  for  some  time  in  California,  and  from  1895 
until  his  death  in  Colorado.  He  died  at  Denver,  March  19, 
1910.  For  eighteen  years  he  had  been  blind  and  in  failing 
health,  for  the  last  five  years  unable  to  sit  up,  and  for  two  years 
unable  to  sustain  consecutive  thought.  Though  at  times  a 
great  sufferer,  his  cheerfulness  and  patience  never  flagged,  and 
his  charities  were  numerous.  He  was  especially  interested  in 
aiding  needy  young  men  to  start  in  their  careers.  Since  1872 
he  had  been  an  active  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Johnson  was  married  in  Boscawen,  New  Hampshire,  in 
November,  1866,  to  Marianne,  daughter  of  Worcester  and 
Polly  (Pettingill)  Webster.  His  children  were  Robert  Web- 
ster, born  at  Newton,  September  28,  1867,  now  of  Denver;  and 
Philip  Van  Kuren,  born  at  Boston,  March  29,  1869,  a  graduate 

165 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


of  Harvard  (1893)  and  of  the  Columbia  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  of  New  York,  now  in  practice  there. 

JOSHUA    KENDALL, 

Son  of  JOSIAH  and  MARY  ANN  (BROWN)  KENDALL,  was 
born  in  that  part  of  Waltham,  Massachusetts,  which  is  now 
Waverley,  January  4,  1828.  The  old  Revolutionary  house  in 
which  his  family  had  lived  for  several  generations  still  exists, 
and  overlooks  the  Mill  Pond  and  Stream  now  forming  part  of 
the  Beaver  Brook  Reservation. 

His  literary  inclinations  induced  his  parents,  in  1845, to  sen<^ 
him  to  the  Bridgewater  State  Normal  School,  and  here  he  re- 
mained a  year.  In  the  winter  of  1846-47  he  taught  a  district 
school  at  Medfield.  Returning  to  Bridgewater  in  the  spring 
of  1847,  ne  was  invited  to  teach  in  the  Normal  School,  and 
did  so  for  a  year.  He  prepared  for  college  mostly  under  the 
tuition  of  Rev.  James  Ritchie  (H.  U.  1835),  at  Duxbury,  and 
entered  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849.  While  in  college  he 
kept  school  in  winter  at  Mendon  and  at  Lincoln,  Massachu- 
setts. His  Commencement  part  was  a  dissertation  —  "  Less- 
ing  as  a  Critic." 

In  some  autobiographical  notes  which  he  left,  after  express- 
ing his  indebtedness  to  the  influence  of  Benjamin  Peirce,  Asa 
Gray,  Agassiz,  Longfellow,  and  Lowell,  he  says :  "  There  was 
course  after  course  in  which  I  took  but  little  interest  and  from 
which  I  received  but  little  profit.  That  was  doubtless  my  own 
fault  in  part,  my  mind  being  taken  up  with  other  things;  in 
part  also  because  Tutors  and  Professors  seemed  to  think  their 
duty  done  when  they  saw  you  blunder  on  through  some  five 
minutes  and  then  seize  the  pencil  and  down  with  the  mark 
assigned  you.  They  were  no  incentive  to  the  appreciation  of 
noble  literature  —  stupid  and  deadening  as  Instructors,  in- 
stead of  enlivening  and  inspiring." 

On  graduating  he  at  once  accepted  the  position  of  Principal 
of  Mr.  Stephen  M.  Weld's  (H.  U.  1826)  private  school  for 
boys,  at  Jamaica  Plain,  where  he  taught  for  four  years,  when 
he  took  charge  of  a  school  in  Meadville,  Pennsylvania.  In 
1 86 1  he  returned  to  the  East  and  was  appointed  Principal  of 

166 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


the  Rhode  Island  State  Normal  School  at  Bristol.  In  1865 
he  removed  to  Cambridge  and  opened  a  private  school  for 
preparing  boys  for  college.  He  also  had  a  summer  school  at 
Mt.  Desert.  Some  of  the  announcements  in  his  school  circu- 
lars are  epigrammatic  and  denote  the  quality  of  the  man: 
"  The  rules  are  few,  but  they  must  be  obeyed."  "  Ample  play- 
grounds, also  facilities  for  rowing,  fishing  and  collecting 
specimens  in  Natural  History.  Fire-arms,  tobacco  and  spirits 
not  allowed."  "  Affords  studious  and  industrious  young  men, 
from  fourteen  to  eighteen  years  of  age,  an  excellent  oppor- 
tunity to  get  their  preparatory  education  in  a  short  time." 
"  The  right  reserved  to  terminate  the  connection  of  any  boy 
with  the  household,  when  the  good  of  the  whole  demands  it." 
Kendall  was  married,  on  September  14,  1854,  to  Phebe, 
daughter  of  William  Mitchell,  of  Nantucket,  a  sister  of  the 
late  Maria  Mitchell,  Professor  of  Astronomy  at  Vassar.  Mrs. 
Kendall  was  a  great  factor  in  the  success  of  the  school,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Cambridge  School  Committee  from 
1 88 1  to  1894.  She  died,  June  4,  1907.  A  son,  William 
Mitchell  (H.  U.  1876),  now  a  distinguished  architect  of  the 
firm  of  McKim,  Mead  &  White,  was  born  February  13,  1865. 

Kendall  died,  after  a  protracted  decline,  at  a  private  sani- 
tarium at  West  Somerville,  February  13,  1913. 

No  member  of  the  Class  of  '53  enjoyed  his  association  with 
that  body  more  thoroughly  than  Kendall.  It  has  been  the 
practice  of  late  years,  since  he  became  unable  to  reach  the  class 
dinner,  to  remember  him  with  flowers  from  the  table.  And 
in  every  change  of  domicile  which  waning  strength  compelled, 
he  was  prompt  to  advise  the  classmates  who  remained  behind 
of  his  new  address,  that  he  might  not  suffer  the  loss  of  any 
of  their  valued  attentions. 

EDWARD    KING, 

Son  of  JAMES  GORE  KING  (H.  U.  1810)  and  SARAH 
ROGERS  (GRACIE)  KING,  was  born  July  30,  1833,  at  his 
father's  country-seat,  Highwood,  Weehawken,  New  Jersey. 
His  family  has  been  very  largely  represented  at  Harvard.  His 
grandfather,  Rufus  King,  was  of  the  Class  of  1777,  and  he 

167 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


has  had  an  uncle,  brothers,  cousins,  and  two  sons,  all  gradu- 
ates, besides  his  father,  and  the  husbands,  both  of  '87,  of  two 
daughters. 

He  was  educated  in  New  York  at  the  Grammar  School  of 
Columbia  College,  then  situated  in  Murray  Street  and  presided 
over  by  Professor  Anthon,  where  the  late  Abraham  S.  Hewitt 
was  one  of  his  teachers,  and  at  a  French  school  kept  by  the 
brothers  Peugnet,  who  had  been  officers  in  the  French  army 
under  Napoleon  and  had  fought  at  Waterloo.  In  1847  ne 
accompanied  his  parents  and  sisters  to  England  in  the  sailing 
packet  "  New  World,"  making  the  passage  in  about  twenty- 
seven  days,  much  to  his  enjoyment,  as  it  was  his  first  sea-trip. 
After  landing  at  Liverpool  they  made  a  short  trip  through 
England  and  Scotland,  posting  a  good  part  of  the  way,  rail- 
ways then  being  comparatively  few.  After  a  short  visit  to 
London  he  left  his  family,  and,  with  his  cousin  Archibald 
Gracie,  afterwards  a  Confederate  General  killed  at  Peters- 
burg, he  proceeded  to  a  school  at  Sachs-Meiningen,  where  he 
acquired  German.  He  was  connected  with  this  school  until 
the  spring  of  1849,  when  he  returned  home.  While  there  he 
made  a  trip,  partly  on  foot,  through  Bavaria,  Austria,  the 
Salzkammergut,  and  the  Tyrol.  It  was  in  1848,  the  revolu- 
tionary days  of  Germany,  and  just  after  the  expulsion  of  Lola 
Montez  from  Munich. 

In  1849  King  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman,  and  passed 
the  first  two  years  of  his  college  life  under  the  roof  of  Pro- 
fessor Agassiz,  almost  as  a  member  of  his  family.  To  be  con- 
stantly in  the  company  of  Agassiz  proved  to  be  an  education 
of  itself,  his  views  were  so  broad,  his  conversation  so  inter- 
esting, and  his  devotion  to  science  so  intense.  King's  part  at 
Commencement  was  a  dissertation  —  "  Art  Unions." 

After  graduation  in  1853  King  went  to  West  Point  and 
took  private  lessons  in  engineering  from  Professor  Mahan, 
with  the  intention  of  becoming  an  engineer,  and  passed  the 
winter  of  1853-54  there.  The  then  Superintendent  of  the 
Military  Academy  was  Robert  E.  Lee,  and  his  son  Custis, 
with  whom  King  frequently  had  a  fencing  bout,  was  a  Cadet. 
Palfrey  of  '53  had  just  entered,  and  King  admired  him  in  the 

168 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


gray  uniform.  His  father  died  in  October,  1853,  and  in  the 
following  spring  he  changed  his  plans  and  determined  to  make 
the  banking  business  his  occupation.  He  entered  the  banking- 
house  of  James  G.  King's  Sons,  where  he  remained  until  1861, 
first  as  clerk  and  then  as  partner.  During  this  period  he 
visited  Europe  twice,  and  made  a  trip  to  the  West,  to  St.  Louis 
and  St.  Paul,  the  latter  being  in  those  days  accessible  by  steam- 
boat only,  there  being  no  railway  beyond  Prairie  du  Chien  on 
the  Mississippi,  while  Minneapolis  was  a  small  village,  con- 
sisting of  a  flour-mill  or  two,  to  which  he  drove  through  the 
country  roads  from  St.  Paul,  returning  over  the  prairie  by 
way  of  Fort  Snelling,  a  "  Frontier  Post."  In  1861,  having 
become  a  member  of  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange,  he  dis- 
solved partnership  with  the  house  of  James  G.  King's  Sons 
and  started  on  his  own  account,  subsequently  becoming  con- 
nected with  the  late  James  Robb  and  his  son  J.  Hampden 
Robb.  In  1872-73  he  served  as  President  of  the  New  York 
Stock  Exchange.  In  December,  1873,  he  became  President  of 
the  Union  Trust  Company  of  New  York,  a  position  which  he 
held  at  his  death.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Harvard  Club  of 
New  York,  very  active  in  its  establishment,  and  was  President 
from  1890  to  1895;  °f  the  University  Club,  of  which  he  was 
one  of  the  Council ;  of  the  Century  Club,  the  Riding  Club  and 
the  Ardsley  Golf  Club.  He  has  been  a  Governor  of  the  New 
York  Hospital. 

He  kindly  furnished  to  the  Secretary  the  following  family 
record : 

Edward  King,  born  July  30,  1833,  at  Highwood,  New  Jer- 
sey; married  (ist),  October  20,  1858,  at  Edinburgh,  Scot- 
land, to  Isabella  Ramsay  Cochrane,  daughter  of  Rupert  J.  and 
Isabella  Macomb  Clarke  Cochrane,  born  at  London,  England, 
September  8,  1838;  died  March  I,  1873.  Children: 

Isabella  Clarke,  born  October  13,  1859. 

Edward  Ramsay,  born  August  14,  1861 ;  died  April  20, 
1863. 

Alice  Bayard,  born  August  14,  1864;  married  October  15, 
1891,  to  Herman  Leroy  Edgar  (H.  U.  '87).  Their  son,  Wil- 
liam, born  March  8,  1894. 

169 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


James  Gore,  born  June  6,  1868  (H.  U.  '89)  ;  married, 
April  22,  1896,  to  Sarah  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  Erving 
('53),  and  have  children,  James  Gore,  born  May  25,  1898,  and 
Eleanor  Erving,  born  November  29,  1900. 

Elizabeth  Gracie,  born  July  30,  1870;  married,  April  20, 
1908,  to  Alpheus  Sumner  Hardy  (H.  U.  '87). 

Rupert  Cochrane,  born  February  24,  1873  (H.  U.  '94)  ; 
married,  June  6,  1901,  to  Grace  Marion.  Their  child,  Kath- 
erine  Langdon,  born  May  23,  1902. 

Married  (2d),  May  26,  1885,  Elizabeth  Fisher,  born  Octo- 
ber I,  1847,  daughter  of  William  Fisher  of  Philadelphia,  and 
Julia  (Palmer)  Fisher.  Their  son,  Edward,  born  September 
27,  1886. 

King's  death,  which  occurred  at  New  York,  November  17, 
1908,  was  the  result  of  his  prescribed  equestrian  exercise, 
begun  several  years  since.  While  riding  in  Central  Park,  a 
few  days  before,  as  was  his  uniform  practice  in  the  morning, 
his  horse  stumbled  and  fell  on  him,  inflicting  injuries  from 
which  he  never  rallied.  His  funeral  took  place  at  Grace 
Church  on  the  2ist,  and  he  was  buried  at  Jamaica,  Long 
Island. 

The  loss  of  King  to  his  classmates  is  a  heavy  one.  When- 
ever he  found  it  possible  he  came  from  New  York  to  attend 
the  annual  dinner,  and  often  appeared  at  our  class  room  on 
Commencement  Day  and  frequently  gave  valuable  assistance 
to  the  Secretary  in  his  researches  into  class  biography.  When 
pecuniary  contributions  were  called  for,  he  was  always  ready 
to  help. 

Besides  the  clubs  and  societies  mentioned  by  King  in  his 
memoir,  he  was  some  time  President  of  the  St.  Nicholas  So- 
ciety; a  Fellow  of  the  National  Academy  of  Design;  Member 
of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce;  Director  of  the 
Hanover  National  Bank.  He  served  as  President  of  the  New 
York  Stock  Exchange  in  1872,  and  was  called  in  the  panic 
year  1873  to  the  Presidency  of  the  Union  Trust  Company. 
The  company's  affairs  were  in  a  somewhat  critical  state  at 
the  time,  but  under  his  management  its  position  was  soon  re- 
stored and  the  basis  of  its  present  prosperity  was  laid. 

170 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


The  following  testimonial  is  quoted  from  the  Resolve  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  the  Hanover  National  Bank  of  the  City 
of  New  York,  of  November  20 : 

"  This  Board  has  learned  with  profound  sorrow  of  the 
death  of  their  late  friend  and  associate,  Edward  King,  who 
for  so  many  years  had  been  regular  in  his  attendance  at  the 
meetings  of  the  Board,  and  faithful  to  his  duties  as  a  Direc- 
tor, and  who  by  his  untiring  interest  and  wise  counsel  con- 
tributed in  no  small  degree  to  its  success.  The  descendant  of 
a  famous  banker,  he  also  established  a  national  reputation  as 
a  financier.  By  his  wise  and  conservative  action  he  rendered 
valuable  service  to  the  interests  of  the  country  at  a  critical 
period  of  its  history,  and  for  thirty-five  years  was  the  honored 
President  of  the  Union  Trust  Company  of  New  York.  Dur- 
ing all  that  time  he  was  prominent  in  every  movement  that 
made  for  the  betterment  of  financial  conditions.  He  was 
a  man  of  sterling  integrity,  of  ripe  judgment.  His  intercourse 
with  others  was  marked  by  a  geniality  of  manner  and  dignity 
of  bearing.  With  a  warm  and  generous  heart  he  was  loved  by 
all  who  knew  him." 

The  Union  Trust  Company  of  New  York,  which  he  had 
served  for  a  full  generation,  and  which  stood  so  well  in  the 
financial  world  that  a  man  of  Rockefeller's  shrewdness  chose 
it  for  his  place  of  deposit,  entered  these  words,  with  others  of 
like  import,  on  its  records : 

"Resolved,  That  we  recall  with  pride  the  results  of  this 
long  period  of  faithful  devotion,  the  financial  success  which 
attended  his  efforts,  and  the  conspicuous  standing  for  fidelity 
and  conservatism  upon  which  he  firmly  established  the  affairs 
of  the  Company. 

"  Resolved,  That,  in  considering  the  loss  we  have  sustained, 
we  are  ever  more  strongly  impressed  by  the  sterling  and  gentle 
qualities  which  characterized  him,  and  which  attached  us  all 
so  strongly  to  his  winning  personality,  and  endeared  him  to 
us  as  an  associate  and  as  a  friend.  He  was  a  model  of  straight- 
forward and  single-minded  honesty  and  sincerity,  coupled 
with  a  firmness  which  we  respected  and  a  gentleness  which 
we  loved." 

171 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Subordinate  officers  of  the  company  who  had  served  under 
him  also  put  on  record  the  following  tribute : 

"  Mr.  King's  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  Trust  Com- 
pany was  an  inspiration  to  us  all.  His  broad,  cultivated  mind, 
his  quick  insight  into  the  most  complicated  problems,  his  great 
moral  courage  and  promptness  to  act,  excited  and  held  our 
admiration,  while  his  tender  sympathy  for  those  among  us 
who  have  gone  to  him  in  distress  has  won  and  held  our  deep 
gratitude  and  affection." 

The  fine  tribute  paid  to  Agassiz,  by  our  classmate,  in  the 
"Boston  Transcript"  of  May  29,  1907,  shows  what  King 
might  have  achieved  with  his  pen,  had  his  busy  life  ever  af- 
forded him  opportunities  for  the  use  of  it. 

CHARLES    FREDERICK   LIVERMORE, 

Son  of  ISAAC  and  EUNICE  (HOVEY)  LIVERMORE,  was  born 
at  Cambridge,  March  13,  1830. 

He  was  educated  successively  in  Miss  Elizabeth  Carter's 
and  Mr.  Allen  Lincoln's  schools  and  in  the  Hopkins  Classical 
School,  all  in  Cambridge.  In  1842  he  was  placed  under  the 
instruction  of  the  Rev.  Rufus  P.  Stebbins,  an  uncle  by  mar- 
riage, at  Leominster.  In  1844  ne  entered  the  Boston  Latin 
School,  and  in  1849  Harvard  College  as  Freshman.  He  was 
one  of  the  crew  of  the  "  Oneida  "  in  the  first  Harvard- Yale 
boat-race  on  August  3,  1852.  He  was  Class  Marshal  on  the 
march  to  Charlestown,  June  17,  1850. 

After  graduation,  three  months  were  spent  on  a  mackerel- 
cruise  with  his  classmate  Davis  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
three  months  in  attending  a  commercial  college  in  Boston, 
followed  by  three  terms  at  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School, 
with  experiments  in  a  private  laboratory  at  home.  He  re- 
ceived his  degree  of  S.B.  in  1856.  From  1857  to  1859  he 
was  engaged  as  assistant  chemist  at  the  Roxbury  Chemical 
Works.  In  1859  he  went  to  New  York,  and  entered  into  a 
partnership  with  Alexander  H.  Everett,  Jr.,  as  manufactur- 
ing chemists,  but  returned  to  Cambridge  in  1861,  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  War  having  paralyzed  business. 

He  was  commissioned,  February  26,  1862,  Junior  Second 

172 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Lieutenant  in  the  ist  Unattached  Company,  Massachusetts 
Heavy  Artillery,  and  stationed  at  Fort  Warren  in  Boston 
Harbor.  He  was  successively  commissioned  Senior  First 
Lieutenant  of  the  2d  Company,  November  3,  1862;  Captain 
of  the  4th  Company,  afterwards  Company  C,  ist  Battery, 
April  10,  1863;  and  Major  of  the  ist  Battery,  August  6, 
1865,  in  the  Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery.  He  was  on  gar- 
rison duty  and  coast  defence,  at  Forts  Warren  and  Indepen- 
dence, and  in  command  at  Fort  Warren.  He  was  mustered 
out  as  Captain  October  20,  1865. 

Of  his  war  experiences  and  prisoners,  Livermore  writes: 
"  Mason  and  Slidell  had  left  before  I  was  stationed  there. 
The  first  of  note  whom  we  had  were  Mayor  Brown,  City 
Marshal  Kane,  and  some  other  Baltimore  officials,  who  were 
arrested  for  supposed  complicity  in  the  attack  on  the  6th 
Massachusetts  Regiment.  After  that  we  had  everything  from 
a  Major-General  down  to  a  private.  I  remember  that  one 
high-toned  gentleman  made  a  protest  against  having  a  colored 
man  confined  in  the  same  room  with  him.  Our  Major, 
Stephen  Cabot,  told  him  that  if  his  people  thought  that  Bob 
Shaw  was  not  too  good  to  be  buried  with  his  '  niggers '  he 
could  perhaps  get  along  with  this  one  colored  person.  But 
of  all  those  whom  we  had,  the  most  distinguished  and  the 
most  delightful  was  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent  of  the  C.  S.  A.  (so  called),  a  perfect  type  of  the  Southern 
gentleman,  a  man  of  extensive  reading  and  study,  well  in- 
formed on  a  great  variety  of  subjects  and  ready  to  talk  of 
them  in  a  delightful  way.  He  soon  won  his  way  to  my  heart, 
and  he  became  a  warm  friend  not  only  of  myself  but  of  my 
wife  also.  They  used  to  have  lively  discussions  on  the  ab- 
sorbing topics  of  that  time,  and  after  his  return  to  his  home 
he  kept  up  a  correspondence,  which  terminated  only  with  his 
death.  In  one  of  his  books,  written  after  his  release,  he 
speaks  warmly  of  the  treatment  he  received  from  us  both.  I 
have  a  volume  of  Greeley's  '  American  Conflict '  with  Mr. 
Stephens's  autographic  presentation  to  me  inscribed  when  he 
left  us.  It  has  his  marginal  notes  where  he  took  exceptions 
to  the  writer's  statements.  One  day  I  received  a  telegram 

173 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


from  Washington,  one  of  those  ribbon-like  strips,  over  four- 
teen feet  in  length,  ordering  Mr.  Stephens's  release  and  giv- 
ing the  conditions  of  the  same  in  full.  I  do  not  know  which 
of  us  was  the  most  pleased  when  I  read  it  to  him.  A  few 
days  later  we  parted  with  marked  expressions  of  esteem  and 
affection.  He  was  a  most  charming  man,  and  my  recollec- 
tions of  him  will  always  be  most  pleasant.  I  was  disappointed 
in  not  getting  into  a  *  marching '  regiment,  but  we  had  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  we  were  doing  good  where  we 
were.  We  always  had  from  three  to  four  hundred  prisoners 
who  kept  us  on  the  alert  constantly.  We  had  charted  the 
harbor  and  had  the  range  of  every  point  of  it.  We  had 
photographs  of  all  the  Confederate  vessels  known  to  be  prowl- 
ing around  the  coast,  and  every  suspicious  craft  was  at  once 
reported  by  the  sentries.  One  good  piece  of  work  we  did 
was  to  put  an  end  to  the  Draft  Riots  (July  14,  1863)  with 
a  discharge  of  double  canister.  That  shot  killed  thirty-one 
of  the  mob  and  terminated  the  disturbance.  .  .  .  We  took 
part  in  an  exchange  of  prisoners,  some  2,300,  at  a  landing 
about  ten  miles  from  Richmond  conducted  by  Adjutant-Gen- 
eral Thomas,  receiving  a  lot  of  starved  and  emaciated  men, 
in  place  of  the  well-fed  and  healthy  ones  we  gave  them.  Many 
of  ours  died  on  our  hands  on  the  way  down  the  James  River." 

In  1866,  after  the  close  of  the  War,  Livermore  became 
connected  in  business  with  a  soap  factory  in  Cambridge  which 
supplied  the  woolen  mills  of  New  England,  where  his  knowl- 
edge of  chemistry  was  especially  useful,  and  in  January  of 
the  following  year  he  removed  to  and  took  up  his  residence 
at  Detroit,  Michigan.  Here  he  entered  into  the  employment 
which  became  his  occupation  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  that  of 
a  railroad-accountant. 

The  dates  of  his  successive  connections  in  that  capacity  are 
as  follows:  1867,  with  the  Association  of  Companies  known 
as  the  "Blue  Line";  1872,  with  the  Michigan  Central  Rail- 
road; 1877,  with  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway,  and  the  Erie  and 
North  Shore  Despatch;  1883,  with  the  Detroit,  Bay  City  and 
Alpena  Railroad,  afterwards  re-organized  as  the  Detroit  and 
Mackinac  Railway. 

174 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Livermore  married,  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  on  January 
26,  1859,  Anna  Winthrop,  daughter  of  Henry  Chapman  of 
Greenfield,  and  of  Clara  Temple  Chapman  of  Rutland,  Ver- 
mont, deceased  March  22,  1900. 

His  children  were  Clara  Temple,  born  April  30,  1864;  Alice 
Chapman,  born  April  9,  1867,  deceased  January  25,  1868; 
Jane  Burlingame,  born  December  8,  1868;  Katherine  Emmet, 
born  January  9,  1871,  married  George  C.  Beebe  December 
13,  1893 ;  Frederick  Temple,  born  December  5,  1873. 

Livermore  continued  in  the  service  of  the  Detroit  and 
Mackinac  Railway  until  within  four  weeks  of  his  death,  which 
took  place  on  January  16,  1907.  He  had  always  been  very- 
strong  and  free  from  the  infirmities  of  age.  After  enjoying 
a  family  Christmas  with  children  and  grandchildren  about 
him,  he  took  to  his  bed,  from  which  he  never  rose.  His 
daughter  says :  "  The  trouble  was  in  the  brain,  and  he  had  no 
suffering  at  all,  but  grew  gradually  weaker  and  finally  slept 
away.  The  doctor  had  never  seen  a  more  natural  and  peace- 
ful death.  His  college  and  classmates  were  very  dear  to  him 
and  he  loved  to  talk  of  the  reunion  of  1903.  He  had  many 
of  his  college  mementoes  hung  about  his  room,  with  his 
diploma  and  marshal's  baton." 

ARTHUR  THEODORE  LYMAN, 

Son  of  GEORGE  WILLIAMS  LYMAN  (H.  U.  1806)  and 
ANNE  (PRATT)  LYMAN,  was  born  at  Boston  December  8, 
1832,  and  was  a  resident  of  Boston  until  1839,  when  he  began 
to  pass  his  summers  at  Waltham  and  his  winters  in  town.  He 
is  a  first  cousin  of  President  Eliot. 

After  attending  various  elementary  schools  he  was  fitted 
for  college  by  a  succession  of  private  tutors,  and  entered 
Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849.  His  part  at  Commencement 
was  an  English  oration —  "  Ascendancy  of  the  Reason  and  of 
the  Feelings  at  Different  Stages  of  Life  and  of  Civilization." 

In  the  autumn  of  1853  he  entered  the  counting-room  of 
Messrs.  Samuel  and  Edward  Austin,  East  India  merchants, 
having  their  place  of  business  at  the  foot  of  India  Wharf, 
Boston.  At  the  end  of  a  year  and  a  half  he  went  abroad 

175 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


for  an  extended  tour  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  and  in 
Great  Britain,  in  the  course  of  which  he  passed  two  or  three 
days  at  the  headquarters  of  the  English  army  in  the  Crimea, 
about  two  weeks  after  the  capture  of  the  Russian  forts  on 
the  south  of  Sebastopol.  In  the  autumn  of  1856  he  returned, 
and  for  two  or  three  years  was  engaged  in  the  East  India 
business  on  his  own  account. 

Late  in  1860  he  was  elected  Treasurer  of  the  Hamilton 
Manufacturing  Company,  and  in  January,  1861,  Treasurer 
of  the  Applet  on  Company,  both  being  Lowell  companies.  In 
the  autumn  of  1862  he  resigned  these  offices  and  became  a 
partner  in  the  firm  of  J.  W.  Paige  &  Company,  a  commission- 
house  selling  the  goods  of  various  cotton  mills  situated  at 
Lowell  and  elsewhere.  The  Civil  War  and  consequent  cut- 
ting off,  to  a  great  extent,  of  the  cotton  supply  soon  closed 
most  of  the  mills,  and  the  firm  of  J.  W.  Paige  &  Company 
was  dissolved  in  1863  or  1864.  Lyman  continued  for  a  short 
time  the  sale  of  the  few  goods  made  by  one  or  two  of  the 
mills.  In  November,  1866,  he  was  chosen  Treasurer  of  the 
Hadley  Company  of  Holyoke,  and  held  that  office  till  1889; 
afterwards  that  of  President  till  1900,  when  the  Hadley  Com- 
pany was  merged  with  the  American  Thread  Company.  In 
January,  1881,  he  was  elected  Treasurer  of  the  Lowell  Manu- 
facturing Company,  a  carpet  factory  at  Lowell,  and  continued 
to  act  as  such  until  its  consolidation,  in  1900,  with  the  Bigelow 
Carpet  Company  of  Clinton.  In  January  and  February,  1902, 
he  was  chosen  Treasurer  of  the  Waltham  Bleachery  and  Dye 
Works,  and  of  the  Boston  Manufacturing  Company,  incor- 
porated in  1901. 

He  was  for  many  years,  at  various  times,  President,  Direc- 
tor, or  Trustee  in  these  corporate  institutions;  President  of 
the  Essex  Company,  Pacific  Mills,  Merrimack  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  Bigelow  Carpet  Company,  Boott  Cotton  Mills, 
Whittenton  Manufacturing  Company,  Lowell  Machine  Shop, 
Massachusetts  Cotton  Mills,  Tremont  and  Suffolk  Mills, 
Proprietors  of  Locks  and  Canals  on  Merrimack  River,  Mas- 
sachusetts Mills  in  Georgia;  Director  in  the  Lawrence 
Manufacturing  Company,  Dwight  Manufacturing  Company, 

176 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Middlesex  Company,  Director  and  President  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company,  Director  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bank  for  thirty-seven  years,  Boston  Manu- 
facturers' Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company;  Trustee  and 
President  of  the  Provident  Institution  for  Savings  in  Boston; 
besides  acting  as  Trustee  for  many  private  estates. 

In  June,  1892,  he  was  elected  Overseer  of  Harvard  College 
for  one  year  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the  Board,  and  in  1893  was 
reflected  for  the  term  of  six  years.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  of  the  Historic-Genealogical 
and  of  the  Colonial  Societies;  has  been  Director  and  Treas- 
urer of  the  American  Unitarian  Association;  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Vestry  of  King's  Chapel  for  fifty  years,  and 
Senior  Warden  since  1877;  President  of  the  Boston  Athe- 
naeum, and  a  corporator  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology. 

Lyman  was  married,  on  April  8,  1858,  to  Ella,  daughter  of 
John  Amory  Lowell,  of  Boston,  deceased  March  28,  1894. 
Their  children  were:  Julia,  born  January  30,  1859;  Arthur, 
born  August  31,  1861  (H.  U.  1883)  ;  Herbert,  May  17,  1864 
(H.  U.  1886)  ;  Ella,  born  February  26,  1866;  Susan  Lowell, 
born  February  8,  1869,  died  September  14,  1878;  Mabel,  born 
January  15,  1872;  and  Ronald  Theodore,  born  July  8,  1879 
(H.  U.  1902). 

Several  members  of  this  family  have  made  themselves 
known  by  service  to  the  public.  Ella,  the  wife  of  Dr.  Richard 
C.  Cabot,  is  an  active  member  of  the  Massachusetts  State 
Board  of  Education  and  of  the  Council  of  Radcliffe  College. 
The  son  Arthur  (H.  U.  '83)  was  Mayor  of  Waltham  in  1896. 
Herbert  (H.  U.  '86)  is  Treasurer  of  the  Merrimack  Manu- 
facturing Company  of  Lowell.  Ronald  (H.  U.  '02)  is  Treas- 
urer of  the  Boston  Manufacturing  Company  at  Waltham,  of 
the  Whittenton  Manufacturing  Company  of  Taunton,  of  the 
Salmon  Falls  Manufacturing  Company  of  New  Hampshire, 
of  the  Waltham  Bleachery  and  Dye  Works. 

Other  large  real-estates  and  various  interests  divide  the 
attention  of  the  family,  and,  while  the  president  of  a  mill 
corporation  is  not  likely  to  be  its  general  manager,  he  is  likely 

177 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


to  be  largely  interested  in  its  assets  and  to  be  constantly 
consulted.  "  Thus,"  as  Lyman  writes,  "  what  with  Congress 
and  the  State  Legislatures,  and  benevolent  people  who  are 
generally  ignorant  of  unavoidable  conditions,  which  in  practice 
are  often  the  first  that  have  to  be  considered,  there  is  enough 
to  keep  one  thinking  and  busy." 

FRANCIS    McGUIRE, 

Son  of  PATRICK  and  CATHARINE  (KANEY)  McGuiRE,  was 
born  at  Ross,  County  Fermanagh,  Ireland,  July  20,  1827.  The 
first  thirteen  years  of  his  life  were  spent  at  home  without 
any  definite  object  beyond  amusement  and  the  enjoyment  of 
the  sports  of  the  field  and  of  fishing,  the  facilities-  for  the 
latter  being  most  ample,  since  three  lakes  and  as  many  rivers 
bordered  on  his  father's  farm.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  he  first 
went  to  school,  being  then  able  to  read  and  to  enjoy  reading. 
His  progress  during  the  first  year  was  considered  remarkable, 
but  indolence  gained  the  mastery  over  industry,  and  it  was 
resolved  that  his  attention  should  be  turned  to  something  else, 
so  he  was  set  as  a  shepherd  to  tend  flocks  and  spend  the  day 
in  the  fields.  This  gave  more  opportunity  for  reading,  and 
it  was  determined  that  he  should  have  one  more  trial  at 
school.  He  was  sent  to  a  school  in  the  neighboring  Kitty 
clogher,  where,  in  about  three  months,  he  mastered  Murray's 
English  Grammar  and  the  first  six  books  of  Euclid.  Having 
gained  .favor  by  this  improvement,  he  was  sent  in  company 
with  his  brother  to  a  school  in  the  South  of  Ireland,  about 
two  hundred  miles  from  home.  Here  he  remained  for  eigh- 
teen months,  and  having  devoted  himself  wholly  to  study,  his 
health  became  so  impaired  that  he  was  obliged  to  relinquish 
it  for  many  years. 

"  In  the  year  1846,"  to  quote  his  own  words,  "  when  Ire- 
land was  visited  by  famine,  when  all  her  hopes  as  well  as  all 
her  resources  had  been  blasted,  he  resolved  to  come  to  Amer- 
ica, to  leave  the  old  home  —  parents  and  relations  —  all  that 
was  dear  to  the  heart,  and  seek  fortune  in  a  land  more  blessed, 
where  the  withering  blast  of  oppression  would  not  blight  the 
young  hopes  —  where  the  fair  designs  of  nature  had  not  been 

178 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


thwarted  and  perverted  by  the  wanton  lawlessness  of  relent- 
less oppression." 

McGuire  landed  at  Boston  on  March  7,  1847,  an^  was  HI 
for  some  time,  and  then  went  to  work  in  a  printing  office  on 
Wilson's  Lane,  on  small  wages.  After  this  he  lived  as  a 
servant  in  several  places  in  the  city  of  Boston,  went  to  Cam- 
bridge and  prepared  for  college  at  the  Hopkins  Classical 
School  under  Mr.  Whitman,  and  was  admitted  as  Freshman 
at  Harvard  in  1849.  Here  he  lived  as  a  servant  in  a  students' 
boarding-house. 

Before  coming  to  this  country  McGuire  had  begun  to  study 
for  the  priesthood,  which  introduced  him  to  some  acquaintance 
with  the  clergy  here,  from  whom  he  received  assistance  dur- 
ing his  college  course  and  afterwards  when  he  resumed  his 
studies  in  theology.  The  students  whom  he  served  were  in- 
terested in  his  progress  and  also  helped  him  with  books  and 
clothing.  An  attachment  for  the  niece  of  one  of  his  clerical 
friends,  whom  he  frequently  visited,  turned  his  thoughts  from 
the  priestly  vocation  to  the  study  of  medicine,  and  his  name 
appears  in  the  list  of  the  students  of  the  Harvard  Medical 
School  in  the  annual  catalogues  covering  the  years  1853-55, 
but  apparently  he  never  took  a  medical  degree.  However,  he 
practised  medicine,  at  one  time  in  Milford,  Massachusetts. 
He  died,  unmarried,  of  consumption,  at  Medway  at  the  house 
of  a  niece  who  cared  for  him,  on  February  15,  1861. 

A  legendary  story  is  current  among  McGuire's  relatives  that 
he  went  as  a  surgeon  on  the  sloop  of  war  "Levant,"  and 
had  a  miraculous  escape  from  the  wreck,  and  that  he  returned 
with  health  much  broken.  The  "Levant"  was  attached  to 
the  Pacific  Squadron  and  was  last  heard  of  on  September  3, 
1860,  at  Hilo  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  whence  she  was  to  sail 
for  Panama.  Nothing  was  ever  afterward  heard  from  her. 
The  name  of  Francis  McGuire  is  not  found  on  the  rolls  of  the 
"Levant,"  January  i  to  March  31,  1860,  the  last  on  file. 

GEORGE    FREDERICK   MEACHAM, 

Son  of  GILES  A.  and  JANE  A.  MEACHAM,  was  born  at 
Watertown,  Massachusetts,  July  i,  1831. 

179 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


He  was  educated  successively  at  the  schools  of  a  Mr.  Pea- 
body  at  Newton  Corner,  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Ripley  at  Wal- 
tham,  and,  from  1846  to  1849,  at  tne  Hopkins  Classical  School 
at  Cambridge,  then  under  Mr.  Edmund  B.  Whitman,  and  from 
there  he  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman.  During  the  winter 
of  1852  he  kept  school  at  Eastham,  Massachusetts.  His  part 
at  Commencement  was  an  essay  —  "  The  Venerable  Bede." 

For  two  years  after  graduation  he  was  engaged  in  the 
study  and  practice  of  civil  engineering,  having  an  engagement 
on  the  Jersey  City  Water  Works.  In  the  spring  of  1855  the 
outlook  for  that  profession  was  gloomy,  and  he  entered  an 
architect's  office  in  Boston,  more  by  accident  than  intention. 
He  found  himself  better  fitted  for  the  architectural  than  for 
the  engineering  profession,  having  a  taste  for  mechanics,  as 
well  as  for  drawing  and  color.  In  these  pursuits  he  was  as- 
sisted by  a  brother  of  Miss  Elizabeth  Peabody  of  Boston. 

In  1857  he  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Boston, 
and  this  he  kept  up  until  1891,  when  he  abandoned  active 
business.  In  March,  1870,  he  moved  from  Watertown,  where 
he  had  lived  most  of  the  time  from  his  birth,  to  Newton. 
In  April,  1876,  he  made  a  six  months'  trip  to  Europe. 
Meacham  first  married,  on  September  27,  1859,  Mary  J. 
Warren,  of  New  Boston,  New  Hampshire,  deceased  July  29, 
1877,  and  by  this  marriage  had  a  daughter  Helen  Hamilton, 
born  August  25,  1861,  deceased  February  20,  1877;  a  son 
Philip  Leon,  born  October  15,  1868,  deceased  November  19, 
1869.  He  was  married  again,  September  28,  1881,  to  Ellen 
Louisa  Frost,  of  Boston. 

CHARLES    APPLETON    MILES, 

Son  of  SOLOMON  PEARSON  MILES  (H.  U.  1819),  Master 
of  the  English  High  School,  Boston,  1823-37,  and  SARAH  E. 
(APPLETON)  MILES,  was  born  at  Boston,  March  10,  1834. 

He  was  prepared  for  college  at  the  Roxbury  Latin  School 
and  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849.  He  was  bow-oar 
in  the  first  Harvard-Yale  boat  race,  August  3,  1852.  His 
Commencement  part  was  a  disquisition  — "  Shakespeare's 
Conception  of  the  Roman  Character." 

180 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


On  graduation  he  was  for  nearly  two  years  in  the  counting- 
house  of  William  Perkins,  a  merchant,  of  Boston,  and  for 
more  than  a  year  in  the  employment  of  the  Lowell  Bleachery. 
He  then  went  to  the  West,  resided  at  Dubuque,  Iowa,  and 
engaged  in  the  steamboat  and  banking  business,  until  the 
commercial  panic  of  1857  compelled  a  change  of  occupation. 
He  took  up  that  of  teaching,  which  became  his  profession. 
He  taught  the  High  School  in  Brattleboro  for  a  year,  and  then 
opened  in  that  place  a  boarding-school  for  boys,  called  "  The 
Burnside  Military  School/'  which  he  conducted  for  a  time 
with  great  success,  till  the  year  1873,  when  he  went  to  Europe. 
While  there  he  studied  at  Heidelberg,  Gotha,  and  Paris.  In 
1876  he  was  appointed  Head  Master  of  the  Anthon  Grammar 
School  in  New  York,  where  he  remained  a  couple  of  years,  and 
then  opened  the  "  Arnold  School."  This  he  taught  until  1885. 
He  then  retired  from  the  active  pursuit  of  his  profession,  but 
resided  at  Brattleboro  and  occasionally  prepared  pupils  for 
Harvard  or  Yale.  He  died  at  Brattleboro,  July  3,  1911. 

Miles  was  a  very  popular  and  public-spirited  citizen  of 
Brattleboro,  an  active  member  of  the  Brooks  Library  Com- 
mittee, one  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Austin  fund  for  a  School 
for  the  Deaf  and  Blind,  and  much  interested  in  Masonry. 
He  was  twice  Worshipful  Master  of  Columbian  Lodge  No.  36; 
High  Priest  of  Fort  Dummer  Arch  Chapter  for  six  years; 
Grand  High  Priest  of  the  Grand  Royal  Arch  Chapter  of  Ver- 
mont for  two  years ;  First  Eminent  Commander  of  Beauseant 
Commandery  No.  7,  holding  that  office  until  he  went  abroad 
and  was  reflected  on  his  return. 

He  married,  on  December  29,  1879,  Myra  Josephine  Finn, 
who  died  November  6,  1882,  and  on  August  8,  1889,  Fanny 
Glover  Train.  One  son,  Appleton  Train,  was  born  June  13, 
1894.  His  wife  and  son  survived  him. 

RAYMOND    MOULTON, 

Son  of  CHARLES  F.  and  CESARINE  JANE  (MEETZ)  MOUL- 
TON, was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York,  February  4,  1833. 
His  father  was  descended  from  Robert  Moulton,  one  of  the 
six  shipwrights  sent  out  by  the  Massachusetts  Company  in 

181 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


1629,  from  whom  "  Moulton's  Point "  in  Charlestown  is 
named,  as  are  the  "  Moulton's  Miseries  "  off  the  North  Shore 
supposed  to  be.  "  If,"  says  our  Moulton,  "  he  was  not  one 
of  the  two  or  three  thousand  passengers  on  board  the  '  May- 
flower/ he  may  have  helped  in  repairing  the  glorious  old  tub/' 
which  is  by  no  means  improbable,  as  the  "  Mayflower  "  was 
sent  to  Massachusetts  somewhat  later  in  the  same  year.  His 
mother  was  a  descendant  of  Frangois  Cesar  Leroy,  a  French 
gentleman,  who  disappeared  at  sea  between  Boston  and  Quebec. 

He  was  educated  at  a  private  school  and  college  in  Paris, 
and  in  1848  came  to  Cambridge  and  was  prepared  to  enter 
college  by  John  M.  Marsters,  afterwards  Tutor,  and  admitted 
Freshman  in  1849.  After  graduation,  in  1853,  he  returned 
to  Paris,  where  his  family  resided.  As  his  life  was  for  some 
time;  thereafter  a  private  one,  that  of  an  observer  of  public 
events,  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  give  his  reminiscences  in 
his  own  lively  words: 

"  As  to  anything  else  [than  marriage  and  birth  of  children] 
of  interest  to  others,  I  can  only  say  that  I  have  seen  a  variety 
of  governments  in  France  and  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that,  whatever  the  signboard  is  that  is  put  over  the  shop,  the 
goods  are  always  the  same.  In  1844  at  a  children's  ball  given 
by  Louis  Philippe  I  clasped  him  affectionately  around  the  leg. 
Four  years  later,  when  the  old  man  was  too  good-hearted  to 
shoot  a  few  hundred  rioters,  I  yelled  with  other  children,  as 
idiotic  but  much  older  than  myself,  '  Vive  la  Republique.'  A 
few  months  later  it  was  thousands  that  had  to  be  shot.  Paris 
grew  too  hot.  A  workman  of  my  father's  took  me  by  the 
hand  and  led  me  out  of  Paris  over  the  barricades.  I  then 
took  a  strong  dislike  to  civil  war.  It  was  then  thought  best 
to  clear  out  altogether,  and  to  New  York  we  came.  Things 
looking  brighter  in  France,  I  was  left  in  the  United  States 
and  told  to  enter  Harvard  College,  which  I  did.  College  life 
I  rather  liked  in  spite  of  homesickness.  Only  distinguished 
myself  by  rusticating  at  Cohasset,  nearly  getting  drowned 
one  Christmas  Day  while  duck-shooting  with  a  classmate 
named  Richards,  and  roasting  a  partridge  spitted  on  a  foil, 
shot  near  Mt.  Auburn  by  Rear  Admiral  or  General  Charley 

182 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Paine.  Returned  to  Paris,  found  the  signboard  changed  to 
'  Empire  Francois/  had  rather  a  good  time  in  spite  of  the 
tyrant,  and  got  married.  '  Empire  Frangais '  was  knocked 
into  the  gutter,  and  '  Republique  Frangaise  '  substituted.  Prus- 
sians swept  that  into  the  mud,  and  I  had  to  take  wife  and 
baby  to  London,  —  filthy  climate.  Returned  to  Paris  in  time 
to  see  the  smoke  of  the  burned  Tuileries,  and  pick  up  empty 
shells  under  the  sign  of  '  La  Commune/  Thought  then  more 
than  ever  that  of  all  wars  civil  war  was  the  most  abominable. 
Soon  the  signboard  '  Republique  Frangaise '  was  up  again, 
and  there  it  sticks.  And  the  conclusion  I  have  come  to  is 
that  if  Louis  Philippe  had  been  left  alone,  France  would  be 
the  richest  and  freest  country  in  Europe." 

Moulton  was  appointed  United  States  Consular  Agent  at 
Dinard  in  1880,  where  he  has  continued  to  reside. 

Again  he  says,  writing  from  Dinard,  Sunday,  April  13,  '02, 
with  the  true  French  flavor :  "  As  I  am  writing  this,  the  sun 
is  shining  over  the  bluest  of  seas,  —  the  birds  are  twittering 
and  nesting,  —  spring  flowers  blooming,  and  I  don't  see  what 
advantage  it  is  to  me  to  feel  that  it  is  about  time  for  me  to 
clear  out.  A  Sunday  feeling  this,  no  doubt." 

And  again :  "  I  would  very  much  like  to  be  present  at  one 
of  our  Class  Meetings,  but  it  is  very  far  from  Dinard  to 
Cambridge.  I  must  give  up  that  pleasure.  Besides,  Harvard 
must  have  grown  very  large  and  a  modern-style  place.  I 
prefer  remembering  it  with  its  red  brick  buildings,  although 
already  spoilt  by  the  Library,  —  its  absurd  little  bell  perched 
upon  the  roof,  and  its  wooden  pump.  That  morning  Chapel- 
call  was  trying  in  winter !  Bien  des  chases  aux  camarades! 
"  Very  truly  yours, 

R.  MOULTON." 

He  was  married,  on  June  15,  1869,  at  Paris,  to  Louisa 
Emilie  Aglae,  daughter  of  Dr.  Donatien  Binsse,  of  New  York, 
who  died  March  16,  1897.  Their  children  were:  Louisa 
Charlotte,  born  September,  1870,  died  May,  1900;  Raymond 
Edward,  born  November,  1871 ;  Donatien  Augustus,  born 
June,  1873;  Helen  Emily,  born  August,  1878. 

183 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


HENRY    STEDMAN    NOURSE 

SOUTH  LANCASTER,  MASS.,  March  31,  1902. 
MY  DEAR  SHAW: 

Your  request  of  27th  inst.  deserves  prompt  response  and  I 
hasten  "  renovare  dolor  em." 

While  undergraduate,  to  secure  means  for  defraying  my 
college  expenses,  I  taught  school  in  Lancaster  three  winters, 
and  it  is  said  with  unusual  success.  I  was,  however,  over 
$1,000  in  debt  at  the  close  of  my  college  career  and  had  to 
seek  remunerative  employment  at  once.  Just  before  gradua- 
tion, Professor  Bowen  sent  for  me  and  offered  me  the  posi- 
tion of  "  Professor  of  Ancient  Languages  "  at  Phillips  Exeter 
Academy.  This  I  accepted  and  held  it  for  two  years,  when 
an  offer  of  greatly  increased  salary  as  Principal  of  Bristol 
Academy,  Taunton,  enticed  me  into  less  pleasant  and  less  clas- 
sic fields.  In  Taunton  I  gave  such  hours  as  were  not  needed 
for  my  pedagogical  duties  to  reading  law  in  the  office  of 
Baylies  and  John  E.  San  ford,  —  more  to  relieve  the  monotony 
of  a  treadmill-like  life  than  with  any  view  of  becoming  a 
legal  practitioner.  Two  years  more  of  teaching  found  me 
with  impaired  health,  constantly  subject  to  neuralgic  and  bron- 
chial troubles,  tortured  by  dyspepsia  and  a  chronic  cough. 
I  needed  and  desired  out-of-door  occupation,  and  resolved  to 
enter  the  profession  of  civil  engineering,  for  which  I  was 
mathematically  and  by  mechanical  aptitude  quite  well  fitted. 
In  1858,  after  a  recreative  journey  through  the  Middle  and 
Western  United  States,  I  entered  the  office  of  Whitwell  & 
Henck,  Boston,  who  were  engineers  in  charge  of  the  work 
of  filling  in  the  "  Back  Bay,"  then  just  begun.  In  1859  and 
1860  I  was  engaged  in  building  an  extension  of  the  Delaware 
Railway  through  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland.  This  work 
was  interrupted  by  the  troubles  which  culminated  in  the  Civil 
War  and  I  returned  to  Massachusetts. 

At  the  time  the  first  regiments  were  sent  South  from  this 
State  I  offered  my  services  to  Governor  Andrew,  presenting 
testimonials  from  such  men  as  Samuel  M.  Felton  and  George 

A.  Parker  (the  president  and  chief  engineer  of  the  P.  W.  & 

B.  R.    R.),    Peleg   W.   Chandler,   and   other   Massachusetts 

184 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


worthies.  Thinking  myself  warranted  in  asking  a  commis- 
sion rather  than  enlisting  as  a  private  because  of  my  experi- 
ence in  railway  and  bridge  building  in  the  South,  I  visited 
the  ante-room  of  the  governor's  office  sundry  times,  and  really 
expected  that  my  classmate,  A.  G.  Browne  (the  Governor's 
military  secretary,  etc.),  would  aid  me  to  an  interview  with 
his  Excellency.  This  was  the  first  and  the  only  time  I  have 
ever,  directly  or  indirectly,  solicited  any  office  or  honor  for 
myself.  After  wasting  much  time,  I  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  I  stood  no  chance  of  favor  in  the  "  State  House  ring/' 
I  therefore  demanded  my  testimonials  and  went  with  them 
to  General  Butler,  who  was  then  organizing  his  expedition 
against  New  Orleans.  He  received  me  blandly  and  promised 
me  place  of  course.  His  quarrel  with  Andrew  broke  out  soon 
after,  and  just  then  I  got  a  letter  from  a  schoolmate  and  close 
friend  of  mine  in  Chicago,  who  had  been  commissioned  ad- 
jutant of  the  "  Douglas  Brigade,"  asking  me  to  join  him.  He 
stated  that  the  brigade-commander  wanted  an  engineer,  as 
his  organization  was  to  be  attached  to  Fremont's  much-talked- 
of  flotilla  by  which  he  proposed  to  open  the  Mississippi.  I 
went  to  Chicago  without  delay.  This  long  story  will  fully 
answer  your  question  about  my  serving  in  a  Western  instead 
of  a  Massachusetts  regiment.  Of  course  Fremont's  magnifi- 
cent schemes  never  materialized.  I  became  Adjutant  and  Cap- 
tain in  the  55th  Illinois  Infantry,  serving  over  three  years; 
was  appointed  Commissary  of  Musters  for  the  I7th  Army 
Corps  during  the  march  from  Atlanta  to  Richmond,  and  was 
mustered  out  at  the  close  of  hostilities  as  Captain,  although 
the  commission  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  awaited  me  if  I  had 
chosen  to  return  to  the  West  with  my  command,  of  which  I 
had  for  three  months  been  the  senior  officer.  The  State  of 
Illinois  gave  no  brevet  rank  to  any  one. 

My  regiment  was  one  of  the  best  in  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee,  belonging  to  the  2d  Division  of  the  I5th  Army 
Corps,  which  division  commonly  went  by  the  name  "  Sher- 
man's Pet  Lambs."  It  travelled  2,875  miles  by  rail,  5,850  by 
boat,  and  marched  3,240  miles.  Its  dead  lie  in  nine  different 
States.  Its  total  killed  and  wounded  were  448,  or  41%  of 

185 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


its  1,090  rank  and  file,  and  129  died  of  disease  during  the 
War.  It  had  active  part  in  31  engagements,  in  all  but  one 
of  which  I  was  on  duty  with  it.  The  chief  of  these  were  the 
battles  of  Shiloh,  Russell  House,  Chickasaw  Bayou,  Arkansas 
Post,  the  two  assaults  and  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  Champion's 
Hill,  Jackson,  the  assault  of  Little  Kenesaw,  Atlanta,  Ezra 
Church,  Jonesborough,  Fort  McAllister,  and  Bentonville.  I 
was  slightly  wounded  in  the  ankle  by  a  shell  at  Shiloh,  and 
had  the  usual  and  some  unusual  "  narrow  escapes." 

In  June,  1865,  I  returned  to  my  professional  labors  and  saw 
the  completion  of  the  Peninsula  Railway  to  Crisfield,  Mary- 
land. A  year  later  I  was  for  some  months  employed  upon  the 
great  bridge  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  across  the  Sus- 
quehanna  at  Perryville.  In  September,  1866,  I  received  the 
appointment  of  resident  engineer  to  the  Pennsylvania  Steel 
Company  and  began  construction  of  their  Bessemer  Steel 
Works  on  the  Susquehanna  near  Harrisburg,  now  known  as 
Steelton.  Of  these  works  I  became  general  superintendent, 
June  i,  1868,  upon  the  resignation  of  my  friend  Alexander 
L.  Holley,  the  noted  inventor  and  engineer  who  introduced 
the  Bessemer  process  into  the  United  States.  The  chief  prod- 
uct of  the  works  was  steel  rails,  which  we  sold  at  first  for 
$150  per  ton  (the  importer's  price  for  English  rails),  and 
they  cost  us  fully  that  sum  to  manufacture.  The  protection 
of  a  high  tariff  only  kept  us  from  ruin  for  several  years. 

September  12,  1872,  I  married  Mary  B.  (Whitney)  Thurs- 
ton,  widow  of  my  old  companion  in  arms,  Captain  George 
L.  Thurston,  and  one  of  the  most  amiable  and  precious  help- 
mates ever  man  had.  By  her  I  had  two  children,  girls,  who 
died  shortly  after  their  birth.  My  wife  died  of  apoplexy  (in 
the  form  of  aphasia),  July  29,  1899.  My  father  died  August 
19,  1880,  aged  80  years;  my  mother,  November  23,  1898, 
aged  95  years.  My  only  sister  survives  unmarried. 

Becoming  a  victim  to  insomnia  through  the  strain  of  too 
much  responsibility,  I  resigned  the  superintendency  of  the 
Steel  Works,  January  i,  1874,  and  with  my  wife  spent  the 
year,  from  August,  in  Europe.  We  gave  August,  September, 
and  October  to  leisurely  travel  through  England,  Holland, 

186 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Belgium,  Prussia,  and  Switzerland ;  passed  nearly  six  months 
in  Italy  —  three  of  which  we  spent  in  Rome  —  two  months 
in  France,  and  the  months  of  June  and  July  in  England  and 
Scotland.  I  returned  home  with  health  fully  restored.  Soon 
after,  I  was  offered  the  managership  of  new  steel-works  in  Mis- 
souri, but  thought  it  prudent  to  decline,  and  set  up  my  penates 
in  Lancaster,  occupying  myself  with  the  care  of  a  few  acres 
of  land,  taking  a  working  interest  in  town  affairs,  and  being 
often  employed  by  the  Maverick  Oil  Company  at  East  Bos- 
ton, in  the  line  of  my  profession,  overseeing  the  construction 
of  buildings,  wharves,  etc. 

I  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
from  the  5th  Worcester  Representative  District  for  1883.  I 
was  chosen  to  represent  the  5th  Worcester  Senatorial  District 
in  the  Senates  of  1885  and  1886,  and  held  the  chairmanship  of 
committees  on  "  Roads  and  Bridges,"  "  Library,"  and  "  Public 
Service."  I  believe  the  only  legislative  speech  of  mine  to  be 
honored  in  print  was  one  against  the  "  Soldier's  Exemption 
Bill."  I  reframed  the  State  game  laws,  "  in  the  interest  of 
the  birds,"  by  radical  amendments  of  a  bill,  presented  by  the 
Committee  on  Fisheries  and  Game  in  1886,  which  had  been 
driven  through  the  House.  The  Senate  unanimously  passed 
the  bill  as  I  had  reshaped  it,  and  the  House  acquiesced.  This 
law  remained  unchanged  upon  the  statute  book  for  many 
years,  in  spite  of  the  annually  attempted  tinkering  of  poul- 
terers and  pot-hunters. 

In  1885  the  defalcation  and  flight  to  Canada  of  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Lancaster  Bank  swept  away  about  half  of  my 
life-long  savings,  and  annihilated  some  cherished  plans. 

December  5,  1888,  Governor  Ames  appointed  me  a  Trustee 
of  the  Worcester  Insane  Hospitals  for  six  years,  and  Governor 
Greenhalge  reappointed  me  in  1894.  In  1890  Governor 
Brackett  appointed  me  one  of  the  five  members  of  the  newly 
created  Free  Public  Library  Commission  —  a  position  which 
I  now  hold  by  reappointments  from  Governors  Russell  and 
Wolcott.  In  June,  1898,  Governor  Wolcott  asked  me  to  ac- 
cept membership  in  either  the  Board  of  Lunacy  and  Charity 
or  the  Prison  Commission.  I  chose  the  former.  For  twenty- 

187 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


five  years  I  have  been  one  of  the  Library  Trustees  in  Lan- 
caster, and  have  held  other  town  offices  when  I  could  not  well 
excuse  myself. 

October  22,  1883,  I  was  elected  a  member  of  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society.  November  14,  1889,  I  was  elected  to 
membership  in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  The 
following  year  I  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Historic  Gene- 
alogical Society  but  declined  the  honor.  March  i,  1893,  I 
joined  the  Massachusetts  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion  of  the 
United  States.  April  n  of  the  same  year  I  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Massachusetts  Military  Historical  Society. 

My  printed  work,  about  which  you  inquire,  includes  Oc- 
tavos: 1884,  The  Early  Records  of  Lancaster,  1643-1725; 
1887,  The  Story  of  the  55th  Regiment  Illinois  Infantry;  1890, 
The  Birth,  Marriage  and  Death  Register,  Church  Records  and 
Epitaphs  of  Lancaster,  1643-1850;  1891,  History  of  the  Town 
of  Harvard;  1899,  The  Military  Annals  of  Lancaster,  1740- 
1865;  1899,  The  Ninth  Report  of  the  Free  Public  Library 
Commission  (an  illustrated  history  of  the  Public  Libraries  of 
Massachusetts).  Pamphlets:  The  Hoar  Family  in  America 
and  its  English  Ancestry ;  A  Forgotten  Patriot  ( General  John 
Whitcomb)  ;  Mrs.  Mary  Rowlandson's  Removes;  The  Public 
Libraries  of  Massachusetts;  The  Bibliography  of  Lancaster; 
also  sundry  addresses  and  magazine  articles. 

As  the  genealogical  fad  is  so  rampant  now,  perhaps  I  ought 
to  inform  you  that  I  am  a  direct  descendant  of  the  martyred 
Rebecca,  the  Salem  witch,  and  consequently  have  no  manner 
of  respect  for  Cotton  Mather.  On  my  mother's  side  I  trace  my 
descent  from  Ruth,  daughter  of  John  Alden.  But  I  don't  be- 
long to  any  "  patriotic  "  societies,  so  called,  although  two  of  my 
great-grandfathers  wore  swords  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

Here  endeth  a  procession  of  trifles,  paraded  in  obedience  to 
your  official  summons  —  a  verbose  exhibit  of  egotism  by  a 
lonely  old  man. 

Yours  very  truly, 

HENRY  S.  NOURSE. 

EDITORIAL  NOTE.  —  Nourse  died  in  his  chair  from  heart- failure,  wholly 
without  warning,  November  14,  1903.    His  will  disposed  of  the  bulk  of  his 

188 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


property,  as  he  had  no  relative  but  his  elder  sister  to  provide  for,  nearer 
than  cousins,  for  the  benefit  of  Harvard  College.  The  fund  was  to  bear 
his  name,  and  to  be  held  for  the  benefit  of  needy  departments,  or  for  the 
erection  of  a  building.  The  Town  Library  of  Lancaster  also  profited  to 
the  extent  of  $1,000,  to  be  used  for  the  care  and  increase  of  "  Lancas- 
triana,"  but  never  to  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of  fiction.  He  was  born 
April  9,  1832. 

STEPHEN    BUTTRICK    NOYES, 

Son  of  GEORGE  RAPALL  NOYES  (H.  U.  1818),  and  ELIZA 
WHEELER  (BUTTRICK)  NOYES,  was  born  at  Brookfield,  Mas- 
sachusetts, August  28,  1833.  He  was  descended  on  his  father's 
side  from  Nicholas  Noyes,  who  arrived  in  New  England  in 
the  "  Elizabeth  and  Dorcas  "  in  1634,  and  settled  in  Newbury; 
and  on  his  mother's  side  from  William  Buttrick,  one  of  the 
first  settlers  and  a  prominent  citizen  of  Concord.  His  great- 
grandfather was  Major  John  Buttrick,  who  commanded  the 
militiamen  in  the  Concord  Fight.  When  he  was  one  year 
old  his  parents  removed  to  Petersham,  and  on  his  father  re- 
ceiving the  appointment  at  Harvard,  in  1840,  of  the  Hancock 
Professorship  of  Hebrew  and  other  Oriental  Languages,  he 
went  with  them  to  Cambridge. 

He  was  fitted  for  college  at  the  Hopkins  Classical  School 
and  entered  as  Freshman  in  1849.  His  Commencement  part 
was  an  essay  —  "  Grub  Street." 

For  some  time  during  the  first  two  years  after  his  gradua- 
tion he  served  an  apprenticeship  in  library  work  in  the  Boston 
Athenaeum  under  the  supervision  and  instruction  of  the  As- 
sistant Librarian,  the  erudite  Ezra  Abbot.  On  October  10, 
1855,  he  went  to  New  York  to  become  a  clerk  with  the  firm 
of  Noyes  &  Whittlesey,  dealers  in  bags,  where  he  remained 
until  the  fall  of  1857,  then  returning  to  Cambridge.  Having 
applied  for  the  position  of  Librarian  of  the  Mercantile  Library 
Association  of  Brooklyn,  New  York,  which  had  just  been 
organized,  he  went  to  that  city  on  February  20,  1858,  and  re- 
ceived his  appointment  on  March  i.  He  supervised  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  books  and  issued  a  catalogue  of  the  Library 
in  the  same  year.  The  number  of  the  volumes  was  in  March, 
1859,  11,400;  in  March,  1860,  14,260;  in  March,  1865, 
19,000.  On  September  28,  1865,  he  was  offered  a  position 

189 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


in  the  Library  of  Congress,  which  he  declined.  On  October  3 
following  the  Congressional  Librarian,  Ains worth  R.  Spofford, 
made  him  a  better  offer,  which  he  accepted.  He  passed  nearly 
three  years  at  Washington  as  one  of  the  three  Assistant 
Librarians  of  Congress.  In  the  summer  of  1868  he  was  unan- 
imously chosen  to  become  again  Librarian  of  the  Mercantile 
Library  of  the  City  of  Brooklyn.  This  position  he  held  for 
the  remainder  of  his  life  and  in  it  did  excellent  work.  He 
labored  for  about  ten  years  in  the  preparation  of  "  The  Brook- 
lyn Library  Catalogue,"  a  work  unrivalled  in  its  system  of 
cross-reference  and  used  in  other  libraries  than  that  for  which 
it  was  prepared.  It  was  published  in  1880. 

In  the  summer  of  1871  he  made  a  voyage  to  Europe,  pur- 
chasing many  books  for  the  Library.  He  sailed  for  Florida 
in  search  of  health,  December  20,  1884,  and  died  at  Deland 
in  that  State,  March  8,  1885. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Long  Island  Historical  Society 
of  Brooklyn,  of  the  New  England  Society  of  Brooklyn,  of 
which  he  was  also  Historiographer,  and  a  corresponding  mem- 
ber of  the  New  England  Historic  Genealogical  Society. 

He  was  married,  October  20,  1870,  to  Sophia,  daughter  of 
Edward  Anthony.  Of  this  marriage  there  were  two  children : 
Annie  Anthony,  born  December  4,  1871,  and  George  Holland, 
who  died  aged  9  years.  He  was  again  married,  on  June  14, 
1882,  to  Susan  Wilson,  daughter  of  James  Wylie,  by  whom 
he  had  a  son,  Sydney  B.  Noyes,  born  March  24,  1883. 

CHARLES  JACKSON  PAINE, 

Eldest  son  of  CHARLES  CUSHING  and  FANNY  CABOT  (JACK- 
SON) PAINE,  great-grandson  of  Robert  Treat  Paine,  signer 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  grandson  of  Judge 
Charles  Jackson,  of  the  Massachusetts  Supreme  Court,  was 
born  at  Boston,  August  26,  1833. 

He  was  fitted  for  college  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  which 
he  entered  in  1843,  and  completed  the  regular  five  years'  course 
in  1848,  but  being  considered  too  young  for  college,  he  passed 
the  autumn  in  duck-shooting  at  Beverly  Farms,  returned  to 
the  Latin  School,  and  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849. 

190 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


During  his  college  course  he  had  narrow  escapes  from  drown- 
ing, —  once  when  he  drifted  for  five  hours  disabled  from 
chill,  on  the  bottom  of  an  upturned  boat,  and  once  when 
caught  in  the  gale  of  August,  1851,  far  outside  of  Cape  Ann 
in  a  small  half-decked  sailboat.  His  part  at  Commencement 
was  a  Greek  oration. 

Having  studied  law  with  Rufus  Choate,  he  was  admitted 
to  the  Suffolk  Bar  on  September  15,  1856.  After  a  visit  to 
Europe  in  1856  and  1857,  'm  tne  course  of  which  his  classmate 
Shaw  met  him  in  Rome,  he  returned,  went  to  St.  Louis,  and 
began  a  law-practice,  but  came  back  to  Boston  to  continue  it 
until  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War. 

On  September  5,  1861,  he  was  authorized  to  recruit  a  com- 
pany. He  opened  a  recruiting  office  on  Washington  Street 
near  Court  Street,  and  on  September  23  went  into  camp  at 
Lynnfield.  On  the  8th  of  October  he  was  mustered  in  as 
Captain  of  Company  I,  22d  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  known 
as  Wilson's  Regiment,  and  left  Boston  with  that  corps  the 
same  day.  On  the  22d  of  October  he  was  at  Hall's  Hill,  with 
the  defences  of  the  Capitol,  and  remained  there  the  winter 
of  1861-62.  In  January,  1862,  he  was  appointed  by  the  War 
Department  Major  of  the  Eastern  Bay  State  Regiment,  after- 
wards the  Massachusetts  3Oth,  which  he  joined  at  Fortress 
Monroe,  and  with  it  went  to  Ship  Island.  This  was  one  of 
the  two  Butler  regiments  over  the  regularity  of  whose  en- 
listments there  was  much  contention  between  General  Butler 
and  Governor  Andrew.  He  was  not  confirmed  in  his  expected 
office  by  the  Governor,  and  never  received  a  commission  from 
Massachusetts.  His  stay  at  Ship  Island  was  agreeable  and 
rendered  still  more  so  by  the  presence  of  his  classmate  Pal- 
frey, engineer  of  the  defences;  but  he  returned  to  Boston  ill 
with  typhoid  fever.  After  the  occupation  of  New  Orleans, 
General  Butler  sent  for  Major  Paine,  who  at  once  sailed  for 
New  Orleans,  arriving  September  3.  Two  days  after  he  left, 
Governor  Andrew  sent  for  Paine  to  take  command  of  the 
39th  Massachusetts  Volunteers  with  a  commission  as  Major, 
a  commission  which  was  never  issued.  General  Butler  had 
opened  a  recruiting  office  in  New  Orleans,  and  Paine  was  com- 

191 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


missioned  Colonel  of  the  2d  Louisiana  Regiment  (white)  on 
September  5,  1862,  and  remained  with  this  regiment  until 
March,  1864.  In  the  meantime,  on  December  15,  1862, 
Butler  took  leave  of  his  troops  and  was  replaced  by  Banks. 
While  in  command  of  this  regiment,  during  the  siege  of  Port 
Hudson,  which  lasted  from  May  24  to  July  8,  Paine  led  a 
brigade. 

The  siege  of  Port  Hudson  was  a  piece  of  hard  fighting 
under  unusual  difficulties  —  heat,  malaria,  and  a  deficiency 
of  force  —  in  which  Paine  was  struck  by  the  fragment  of  a 
shell,  but  not  severely  hurt.  In  this  siege  the  2d  Louisiana 
especially  distinguished  itself.  On  the  surrender  two  regi- 
ments of  the  entering  column  were  commanded  by  Paine. 
Report  of  Paine's  death  alarmed  his  family  and  friends,  but 
not  for  long.  After  this  victory  the  2d  Louisiana  was  moved 
down  the  river  to  Donaldsonville,  some  fifty  miles  west  of 
New  Orleans,  in  a  low,  damp,  hot  country,  where  Paine  ob- 
tained sick-leave  of  absence,  and  was  at  home  from  August  8 
to  September  26.  Returning,  he  reached  Vermilion  Bayou 
and  took  command  of  his  brigade  on  October  8.  After  some 
time  at  Carrion  Crow  Bayou  the  2d  Louisiana,  then  at  New 
Iberia,  was  ordered  to  be  mounted.  The  process  of  breaking 
in  the  mustangs  driven  in  from  the  prairies  was  curious. 
Paine  wrote :  "  We  have  rich  sights  of  it.  When  a  man  is 
on  one  (and  then  the  pony  is  generally  nearly  broken)  the 
rascal  will  generally  stand  still  with  six  men  pulling  a  rope 
and  two  more  behind  thrashing  him.  They  won't  eat  or  drink, 
often,  for  four  or  five  days.  They  will  strike  out  with  all 
four  legs  at  once.  They  are  as  quick  as  cats,  and  their  hoofs 
are  as  sharp  as  claws."  On  November  7  Paine  was  appointed 
to  the  command  of  the  3d  Brigade,  Cavalry  Division.  In 
his  brigade  he  had  the  6th  Regiment  Missouri,  all  old  "  bor- 
der ruffians,"  but  now  most  heartily  on  our  side.  "  The  2d 
Louisiana,  though  from  a  rebel  State,  has  no  particular 
predilections;  the  6th  Missouri  used  to  be  pro-slavery  Jay- 
Hawkers.  They  keep  up  the  Jay-Hawking,  but  have  changed 
sides." 

After  spending  the  rest  of  the  year  at  New  Iberia,  Paine 

192 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


was  moved  to  New  Orleans,  where  he  had  command  of  a 
brigade  of  cavalry.  This  was  the  end  of  Paine's  campaign- 
ing in  Louisiana.  He  took  another  leave  of  absence,  visited 
Boston,  and  after  seeing  General  Butler  at  Fortress  Monroe, 
returned  to  New  Orleans,  where  he  resigned  as  Colonel  of 
the  2d  Louisiana  and  was  relieved  from  duty.  Preferring  to 
serve  under  Butler  rather  than  under  Banks,  he  joined  that 
officer  as  volunteer  aid-de-camp  without  pay  at  Fortress 
Monroe.  On  May  5  he  was  in  Butler's  Army  of  the  James 
at  Bermuda  Hundred.  Fighting  began  immediately  and  was 
continued  incessantly.  Towards  the  end  of  June  President 
Lincoln  visited  the  camp.  The  objective  point  of  the  move- 
ment of  the  Army  of  the  James  was  Richmond,  but  it  was 
temporarily  arrested  by  the  repulse,  on  May  15,  of  Butler  at 
Drewry's  Bluff,  a  strongly  fortified  position  under  command 
of  Beauregard,  but  in  that  fight,  Paine  wrote,  "  We  were  not 
whipped."  In  August  Paine  took  command  of  the  3d  Divi- 
sion of  the  1 8th  Corps,  Colored,  later  stationed  at  Deep 
Bottom,  on  the  north  side  of  the  James.  On  September  29, 
in  the  movement  across  the  James  River,  his  command  at- 
tacked the  enemy's  left  on  the  Newmarket  Road  and  captured 
their  defences  with  complete  success,  adding  so  greatly  to  the 
prestige  of  the  colored  troops  that  his  division  was  selected 
as  one  of  the  two  ordered  for  service  in  both  expeditions 
against  Fort  Fisher.  It  was  for  meritorious  and  valuable 
service  at  the  capture  of  that  fortress  that  he  received  the 
brevet-rank  of  Major-General  in  1865.  Paine's  experience 
in  that  expedition  was  not  so  exciting  as  in  that  of  the  James. 
In  the  first  attempt  at  Fort  Fisher  under  Butler  nothing  was 
accomplished;  the  land  troops  were  recalled  and  the  fleet 
sailed  to  Beaufort,  North  Carolina.  Of  the  second,  under 
Terry,  Paine  wrote :  "  Fort  Fisher  was  taken  yesterday,  Jan- 
uary 17,  1865;  mv  division,  however,  was  not  engaged.  The 
first  order  I  received  from  General  Terry  was  for  ammuni- 
tion; the  next  was  for  shovels  for  our  men  to  entrench 
themselves  to  hold  what  they  had;  the  next  to  send  Colonel 
Abbott's  Brigade  of  the  24th  Corps,  which  was  temporarily 
under  me;  the  next  to  send  my  strongest  regiment  and  then 

193 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


the  brigade  from  which  the  last  regiment  came;  then  he  sent 
word  that  the  fort  was  taken.  The  first  thing  we  did  when 
we  landed  was  to  go  with  my  division,  without  a  guide,  just 
at  sundown,  to  push  through  the  swamp  to  the  river.  My 
line  was  a  mile  long  across  the  peninsula,  facing  Wilmington 
and  three  miles  from  the  fort.  Hoke's  Division  was  known 
to  be  there,  four  brigades  and  quite  strong ;  but  I  got  through 
all  right  and  put  up  a  good  line  of  breastworks  before  morn- 
ing, which  I  have  occupied  since."  It  is  fair  to  give  Paine's 
opinion  of  Butler  at  Fort  Fisher :  "  General  Butler  is  relieved 
for  not  assaulting  Fort  Fisher.  He  was  right  entirely.  The 
fort  was  then  unharmed,  where  yesterday  were  sixty  or  eighty 
guns  which  were  dismounted.  We  have  two  thousand  more 
men,  besides  two  thousand  sailors  (perhaps  he  could  have 
had  those  then),  and  not  one  man  too  many.  For  two  hours 
last  night  we  thought  we  had  some  thousand  too  few.  The 
fort  could  not  by  any  possibility  have  been  taken  before,  and 
we  certainly  should  have  had  a  tremendous  cutting  up  if  we 
had  tried."  Paine  remained  on  his  entrenched  line,  main- 
taining the  most  unbroken  quiet  from  January  16  to  February. 
General  Schofield  was  sent  by  Grant  from  Nashville,  and  one 
of  the  objective  points  was  the  occupation  of  Wilmington. 
General  Hoke,  confronting  Paine's  Division,  gradually  re- 
treated with  but  little  fighting,  and  by  the  end  of  February 
Paine  was  "  in  and  out  of  "  the  place.  Paine's  Division  re- 
mained near  Wilmington,  and  while  there  he  was  commis- 
sioned Brevet  Major-General  of  Volunteers.  His  division, 
now  a  part  of  General  Terry's  command,  known  as  the  loth 
Corps,  joined  in  the  advance  on  Goldsboro,  to  meet  General 
Sherman's  victorious  army.  Paine  wrote :  "  Sherman  has 
strong  prejudices,  and  his  particular  one  is  against  colored 
troops.  I  wonder  what  he  will  do  with  mine.  Sherman's 
men  looked  at  my  darkies  as  a  countrymah  would  look  at  a 
menagerie,  and  said  they  had  never  seen  them  before,  al- 
though they  had  heard  of  them."  After  the  close  of  the 
War,  Paine  was  for  some  time  in  command  of  the  military 
district  of  New  Berne  in  North  Carolina,  and  was  mustered 
out  January  15,  1866. 

194 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


After  his  return  from  the  War  he  began  to  take  an  in- 
terest in  the  development  and  management  of  railroads.  He 
was  a  director  in  the  Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy,  and  in 
the  Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  in  its  early  days,  and  in 
the  Mexican  Central.  Soon  after  his  marriage  in  1867,  he 
bought  an  estate  in  Weston,  where  he  has  since  passed  a 
large  part  of  the  year.  For  many  years  he  spent  the  summer 
months  at  Nahant,  and  has  been  a  close  student  of  all  that 
pertains  to  yacht-designing  and  yacht-sailing.  His  first  racing 
yacht  was  the  "  Halcyon,"  which  he  altered  so  that  she  won 
prizes  over  the  fastest  yachts  then  offered.  He  was  one  of  a 
syndicate  which  built  the  "  Puritan/'  and  he  was  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  executive  committee  which  had  charge  of  her  when 
she  successfully  defended  the  cup  against  the  "  Genesta."  In 
the  following  year  General  Paine  alone  built  the  "  Mayflower," 
and  defended  the  cup  against  the  "  Galatea,"  and  in  1887 
he  produced  the  "  Volunteer  "  which  defeated  the  "  Thistle." 
Mr.  Burgess,  his  designer,  attributed  to  Mr.  Paine  the  whole 
merit  of  construction  in  every  detail,  and  called  himself  simply 
Mr.  Paine's  executive  officer.  After  the  third  series  of  races 
Mayor  O'Brien  tendered  a  public  reception  to  Paine  and 
Burgess  in  Faneuil  Hall,  of  which  an  account  was  published 
by  the  city,  entitled  "  The  Paine-Burgess  Testimonial." 

In  1897  Paine  went,  with  U.  S.  Senator  Wolcott  and  Mr. 
Stevenson,  formerly  Vice-President,  on  a  special  mission  to 
ascertain  the  views  of  the  governments  of  France,  Great 
Britain,  and  Germany  regarding  international  bimetallism. 

Paine  married,  on  the  26th  of  March,  1867,  Julia  Bryant, 
daughter  of  John  Bryant,  Jr.,  of  Boston.  She  died  September 
4,  1901.  Their  children  were:  Sumner,  born  May  13,  1868, 
died  April  18,  1904;  John  Bryant,  born  April  19,  1870  (H.  U. 
1891);  Mary  Anna  Lee,  born  July  23,  1873,  married  to 
Frederick  Winsor,  June  18,  1894;  Charles  Jackson,  Jr.,  born 
June  17,  1876  (H.  U.  1897),  married  to  Edith  M.  Johnson, 
January  5,  1902;  Helen,  born  June  25,  1881,  married  to 
Thatcher  R.  Kimball  (H.  U.  1895);  Georgiana,  born  De- 
cember 23,  1888;  Frank  Cabot,  born  July  9,  1890. 

195 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


GEORGE    STURGIS    PAINE, 

Son  of  FREDERICK  WILLIAM  and  ANNE  GUSHING  (STUR- 
GIS) PAINE,  was  born  at  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  June  4, 

1833- 

He  received  his  earlier  education  in  his  native  town  at  the 
schools  of  Mrs.  Sarah  B.  Wood  and  Mr.  Austin  Fitch,  and  was 
prepared  for  college  at  the  Classical  High  School.  He  entered 
Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849. 

After  graduating  in  1853  he  visited  Europe,  travelled  exten- 
sively over  the  Continent  and  in  England,  and  resided  for  a 
long  time  in  Paris,  perfecting  himself  in  the  French  language 
and  attending  lectures  at  the  University.  Returning  to  this 
country,  he  again  visited  Europe  in  1858,  travelled  in  different 
parts  not  visited  before,  and  resided  a  long  time  in  Italy,  eight 
months  being  passed  in  Rome.  There  he  went  a  great  deal 
into  Italian  society,  and  had  the  honor  of  a  private  audience 
and  long  personal  conversation  with  Pius  Ninth,  and  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Cardinal  Antonelli,  then  prime  minister,  visit- 
ing him  on  invitation  and  receiving  from  his  own  hand  his 
autograph  and  portrait.  After  making  visits  among  friends 
and  kinsfolk  in  England  he  returned  to  this  country,  and  began 
preparations  for  entering  the  ministry  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church.  He  resided  nine  months  at  the  General  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  was  ordained 
Deacon  in  1861,  at  Emmanuel  Church,  Boston.  The  greater 
portion  of  his  studies  were  pursued  privately.  On  January  22, 
1862,  he  was  ordained  Priest  at  All  Saints'  Church,  Worcester, 
by  Bishop  Eastburn. 

Paine  never  became  the  settled  rector  of  a  parish,  but  offi- 
ciated in  sundry  places  for  various  lengths  of  time,  ranging 
from  one  day  to  two  years.  At  the  end  of  1888  he  resigned 
the  office  of  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  the  Central  Convoca- 
tion of  the  Diocese  of  Massachusetts,  a  position  which  he  had 
held  during  the  previous  ten  years.  After  his  mother's  death 
in  1892,  the  condition  of  whose  health  had  detained  him  at 
Worcester  for  several  years,  he  left  that  city  for  New  York, 
in  January,  1893,  where  he  spent  two  years,  and  in  1895  he 
sailed  for  Europe  for  an  indefinite  absence,  finally  taking  up 

196 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


a  permanent  residence  in  London,  sometimes,  however,  pass- 
ing weeks  or  months  on  the  Continent. 

Paine's  contributions  to  literature  have  been  of  a  fugitive 
character,  confined  mostly  to  newspapers,  and  upon  some 
reigning  topic  of  the  day. 

Paine  died  so  very  suddenly  at  London,  on  August  2,  1908, 
that  an  inquest  was  found  necessary.  He  was  never  married. 

JOHN    CARVER    PALFREY, 

Son  of  JOHN  GORHAM  (H.  U.  1815)  and  MARY  ANN 
(HAMMOND)  PALFREY,  was  born  at  Cambridge,  Massachu- 
setts, December  25,  1833,  his  father  being  at  the  time  Profes- 
sor of  Biblical  Literature  in  the  Harvard  Divinity  School. 
A  paternal  great-grandfather  was  Colonel  William  Palfrey, 
Aid  to  Washington  and  Paymaster-General  of  the  Continental 
Army.  The  family  traces  back  to  the  Peter  Palfrey  who,  in 
1628,  received  Governor  Endecott  on  his  landing  at  Salem  and, 
later,  was  one  of  a  committee  of  six  charged  by  their  towns- 
men to  secure  the  placing  of  the  first  College,  which  after- 
wards became  Harvard,  at  a  spot  on  the  seashore  between 
Salem  and  Marblehead. 

Palfrey  was  fitted  for  college  partly  at  the  Boston  Latin 
School,  which  he  entered  in  the  year  1844,  and  partly  at  the 
Hopkins  Classical  School,  Cambridge.  He  was  admitted  at 
Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849.  He  maintained  a  high  rank 
in  the  class,  and  the  part  assigned  to  him  for  Commencement 
was  a  dissertation,  —  "  Protestantism  in  Spain."  It  was  not 
delivered,  for  he  left  college  in  June,  before  Class  Day,  after 
passing  a  special  examination  for  a  degree.  During  the  Sen- 
ior year  he  had  received  the  appointment  of  a  cadetship  at 
West  Point,  then  in  the  gift  of  Lorenzo  Sabine,  Esq.,  member 
of  Congress  from  the  Middlesex  District.  He  reported  as 
Cadet  June  18,  1853. 

In  the  tribute  paid  to  his  memory  by  Mr.  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  President  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  he 
says  of  Palfrey's  admission  to  the  military  academy  that  he 
went  there  exceptionally  well  prepared,  especially  in  mathe- 
matics, and  adds :  "  It  is  a  somewhat  humorous  fact,  and  curi- 

197 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


ously  illustrative  of  what  may  be  called  the  '  outs '  of  the  ex- 
amination test  that,  although  the  entrance  requirements  for 
West  Point  are  of  a  most  elementary  character,  it  was  for  a 
time  very  questionable  whether  Palfrey  would  succeed  in  pass- 
ing them.  He  had  got  too  far  beyond  that  state  of  things. 
Nevertheless  he  did  scrape  into  the  Academy  and  once  there, 
with  his  admirable  preparation  and  studious  and  regular  tem- 
perament, he  soon  established  himself  at  the  head  of  his  class 
and  there  remained  first  in  rank  until  he  left  the  Academy  in 
1857.  According  to  his  academical  military  record  he  served 
the  first  year  as  private,  the  second  year  as  Corporal,  the  third 
year  he  was  Quartermaster,  and  the  fourth  Ranking  First 
Lieutenant." 

On  leaving  he  was  appointed  to  the  United  States  Corps  of 
Engineers  with  the  rank  of  Brevet  Second  Lieutenant,  and  as- 
signed to  duty  as  Assistant  to  the  Board  of  Engineers  in  Bos- 
ton for  the  defence  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  of  which  Colonel 
Sylvanus  Thayer  was  President.  He  was  commissioned  Sec- 
ond Lieutenant  of  Engineers,  December  31,  1857.  In  1859  he 
was  ordered  to  Portland,  Maine,  as  Assistant  to  Captain  D. 
Kurtz,  of  the  United  States  Engineers,  whom  he  succeeded  in 
about  six  months  as  Engineer  in  Charge  of  Construction  and 
Repairs  of  Forts  on  Coasts  of  New  Hampshire  and  Maine, 
the  principal  construction  being  that  of  Fort  Gorges  in  Port- 
land Harbor. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  War  he  was  ordered  to  proceed 
by  sea  to  Fortress  Monroe,  then  menaced,  as  Assistant  to 
Colonel  Gustavus  Adolphus  de  Russy,  and  in  May,  1861,  was 
sent  to  Newport  News  to  assist  in  fortifying  that  place,  on  its 
first  occupation  by  General  Butler.  On  the  James  River  he 
contracted  a  malarial  fever  which  incapacitated  him  from  the 
service,  and  he  was  on  sick-leave  from  July  to  October.  In 
this  interval,  on  August  3,  he  was  commissioned  First  Lieu- 
tenant, Corps  of  Engineers,  U.  S.  A.,  and,  when  sufficiently 
recovered,  he  returned  to  Fortress  Monroe.  On  the  2Qth  of 
November  he  was  ordered  to  Washington  to  receive  instruc- 
tions for  proceeding  to  Ship  Island,  Mississippi,  to  assume 
charge  there  in  preparation  for  the  expedition  against  New 

198 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Orleans.  He  arrived  at  Ship  Island,  February  21,  1862.  The 
island  had  been  evacuated  by  the  Confederates  in  September, 
1 86 1,  and  was  then  in  the  occupation  of  the  First  Detachment 
of  General  Butler's  New  Orleans  Expedition,  under  Brigadier- 
General  John  W.  Phelps,  to  whom  he  acted  as  Aid  until  Gen- 
eral Butler's  arrival  in  March,  when  he  was  transferred  to  his 
staff.  The  works  at  Ship  Island  continued  to  be  under  his 
charge  until  the  end  of  the  war. 

In  May,  1862,  after  the  fall  of  New  Orleans,  he  was  ordered 
to  Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip  below  that  city  on  the  Missis- 
sippi, the  scene  of  Farragut's  famous  exploit,  to  repair  and  put 
them  in  condition  for  defence.  In  the  autumn  he  projected 
and  located  a  fort  at  Donaldson ville,  at  the  outlet  of  the 
Mississippi  into  Bayou  Lafourche,  which  was  of  importance 
in  the  following  summer  by  enabling  a  garrison  of  about  120 
men  to  repel  the  attack  of  1500  Confederates.  Here  he  con- 
tracted a  second  severe  fever  of  which  he  felt  the  effects  for  a 
long  time. 

On  January  5,  1863,  ne  took  charge,  in  addition  to  his 
other  duties,  of  "  all  Permanent  Fortifications  for  Defence 
of  New  Orleans,"  and  was  stationed  in  that  city,  a  charge 
which  lasted  till  October  5,  1865.  On  March  3,  1863,  he  was 
commissioned  Captain,  Corps  of  Engineers,  U.  S.  A.,  and  in 
the  same  month  ordered  to  take  charge  of  all  field  works  of 
the  Department  of  the  Gulf.  On  May  30  he  was  ordered  by 
telegraph,  after  the  first  repulse  at  Port  Hudson,  to  join  the 
headquarters  of  the  army  under  Banks,  then  besieging  that 
city.  He  then  served  as  Assistant  Engineer  until  two  days 
after  the  repulse  of  the  second  assault,  when,  on  June  17, 
he  was  appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Army  and  held 
this  position  until  the  place  surrendered  on  July  8,  when 
he  returned  to  New  Orleans  to  his  previous  duties.  He 
was  in  charge  of  all  the  field  works  of  the  Department 
of  the  Gulf  from  March,  1863,  to  June,  1864;  Assistant 
Engineer  of  that  Department  from  January  5,  1863,  to  May 
7,  1864. 

In  April,  1864,  after  the  battles  of  Pleasant  Hill  and  Sabine 
Cross  Roads,  he  was  ordered  to  join  General  Banks's  army, 

199 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


then  on  the  retreat  from  the  unsuccessful  Red  River  Expedi- 
tion, as  Chief  Engineer.  He  went  to  Alexandria  on  that 
river  to  meet  it,  and  there  distinguished  himself  in  one  of  the 
most  memorable  and  spectacular  achievements  of  the  war  — 
the  construction  of  the  famous  dams  in  the  Red  River  by 
which  the  shallow  stream  was  confined  within  a  narrow 
channel  and  thereby  made  sufficiently  deep  to  float  the  squad- 
ron detained  above  Alexandria,  and  save  it  from  an  otherwise 
inevitable  abandonment.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Joseph  Bailey, 
of  the  4th  Wisconsin  Regiment,  serving  on  General  Franklin's 
staff  as  Engineer,  has  received  almost  all  the  credit  of  pro- 
posing and  carrying  out  the  scheme.  The  writer  in  the 
Century  Company's  History,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Irwin,  says: 
"  Stupendous  as  the  work  looked,  the  engineer  officers  of  the 
army  reported  it  as  practicable,"  and  adds  in  a  footnote: 
"  Especially  Captain  John  C.  Palfrey,  United  States  Engineer, 
who  had  made  a  careful  and  complete  survey  of  the  rapids/' 
Captain  Palfrey's  great  modesty  makes  us  suspect  that  much 
more  might  have  been  said.  He  returned  with  Banks's  army 
in  May  to  New  Orleans. 

In  August  following,  Palfrey  volunteered  to  join  the  ex- 
pedition under  Farragut  against  Fort  Gaines  in  Mobile  Bay 
as  Assistant  Engineer  and,  after  its  surrender  on  the  7th  of 
that  month,  he  returned  to  New  Orleans.  In  a  week  he  was 
ordered  to  return  to  Mobile  Bay,  where  he  acted  as  Chief 
Engineer  in  the  operations  against  Fort  Morgan  until  it  was 
surrendered  on  the  23d. 

For  distinguished  services  at  Forts  Gaines  and  Morgan  he 
was,  by  commission,  dated  August  23,  brevetted  Major  in 
the  United  States  Army.  In  March,  1865,  he  was  assigned 
to  duty  with  the  I3th  Army  Corps  as  Assistant  Inspector 
General  and  Chief  Engineer,  with  rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel 
of  Volunteers,  the  only  appointment  in  the  Volunteer  forces 
which  he  received.  He  accompanied  the  expedition  against 
the  city  of  Mobile  under  Major-General  Canby,  served  against 
Spanish  Fort  until  its  evacuation  on  April  9,  was  present  at 
the  successful  assault  on  Blakely  the  next  day,  and  took  part 
in  the  occupation  of  Mobile  April  12.  He  received  three 

200 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


brevet  commissions  in  the  regular  army,  Lieutenant-Colonel, 
Colonel,  and  Brigadier-General,  all  of  the  date  of  March  26, 
1865. 

After  this  he  served  with  the  same  corps  in  Texas  during 
May  and  August,  and  was  engaged  in  reconstructing  the  San 
Antonio  and  Mexican  Gulf  Railroad.  He  obtained  leave  of 
absence  on  October  5,  which  lasted  until  he  resigned  May  i, 
1866. 

On  leaving  the  army  Palfrey  went  to  Lowell  as  Super- 
intendent of  the  Merrimack  Manufacturing  Company.  In 
1874  he  resigned  that  position  and  was  chosen  Treasurer  of 
the  Manchester  Mills,  moved  to  Boston,  still  living  at  Bel- 
mont  in  summer,  and  was  married.  He  resigned  his  treas- 
urership  in  October,  1891,  leaving  the  company  in  a  prosper- 
ous condition.  Affairs  of  a  more  private  and  family  nature 
now  demanded  his  attention,  but  in  October,  1900,  he  added 
to  these  cares  the  treasurership  of  the  ancient  Boston  Pier, 
or  Long  Wharf  Corporation. 

He  has  been  Vice-President  of  the  Webster  National  Bank 
and  Senior  Vice-Commander  of  the  Loyal  Legion.  He  suc- 
ceeded his  brother  Francis  W.,  in  1890,  as  member  of  the 
Society  of  the  Cincinnati.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Historical  Society  from  December  n,  1902,  until 
his  resignation  on  account  of  ill  health,  December  2,  1905. 
He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Massachusetts  Military 
Historical  Society,  and  his  only  literary  productions  are  the 
papers  he  contributed  to  its  proceedings.  To  quote  Mr. 
Adams  again,  "  His  papers  related  almost  entirely  to  mili- 
tary episodes  in  which  he  himself  had  taken  a  part,  and  con- 
cerning which  he  was  thoroughly  informed.  They  were 
therefore  of  real  historical  value.  His  writing  was  character- 
istic of  the  man,  straightforward,  solid,  to  the  point."  The 
following  are  the  titles  of  the  papers,  only  one  of  which  is  yet 
in  print : 

"The  Siege  of  Yorktown "  (at  which  Palfrey  was  not 
present),  communicated  January  14,  1878. 

"  Copy  of  a  Report  of  the  Siege  of  Port  Hudson,"  made  by 
Palfrey  to  Major  D.  C.  Houston. 

201 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


"  General  Sherman's  Plans  after  the  Fall  of  Atlanta,"  read 
April  12,  1886. 

"  Capture  of  Mobile." 

"  Assault  of  Port  Hudson,"  February,  1891. 

Palfrey  was  married  at  Belmont,  on  October  21,  1874,  to 
Adelaide  Eliza,  daughter  of  Samuel  R.  Payson.  Their  chil- 
dren are:  John  Gorham,  born  October  2,  1875  (H.  U.  1896) ; 
Francis  W.,  born  March  27,  1877  (H-  U.  1898)  ;  Hannah  G., 
born  December  13,  1881. 

Palfrey  died  after  a  painful  illness,  January  29,  1906,  at 
Boston,  leaving  a  widow  and  the  three  children  just  mentioned. 

EDWARD    PEARCE, 

Son  of  EDWARD  and  HARRIET  (BULLOCK)  PEARCE,  was 
born  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  July  21,  1833. 

He  was  sent  to  school  at  an  early  age,  had  various  instruc- 
tors, and  was  fitted  for  college  under  the  care  of  Albert  Hark- 
ness,  then  teacher  in  the  senior  department  of  the  Providence 
High  School.  He  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849,  anc^» 
while  a  diligent  student  generally,  noted  for  the  fluency  of  his 
recitations  and  taking  a  high  rank,  he  was  especially  distin- 
guished by  his  talent,  not  to  say  genius,  for  mathematics.  Of 
him  and  the  select  few  who  took  that  difficult  branch  of  learn- 
ing as  an  elective  his  classmate  Crocker  wrote  in  after  years : 
"  Our  mathematical  division  was  small.  There  were,  besides 
myself,  Edward  Pearce,  our  best  mathematician,  James  M. 
Peirce,  the  professor's  son,  Eliot,  Erving,  Kendall,  Hosmer, 
and  Palfrey.  The  professor  used  to  lecture  us  after  covering 
the  blackboard  full  of  his  figures  and  equations,  so  that  it  was 
very  hard  for  us  to  follow  him,  especially  when,  as  sometimes 
happened,  he  discovered  he  had  made  a  mistake,  and  rushed 
back  to  his  work  and  rubbed  out  and  altered  numerous  chalk 
marks  here  and  there.  Indeed  I  doubt  whether  the  rest  of  us 
could  have  managed  to  get  on  had  it  not  been  for  Edward 
Pearce,  who  was  always  able  to  follow  where  the  professor 
led,  and  who  was  ever  ready  and  willing  to  help  the  rest  of 
us  out  of  the  confusion  and  bewilderment  into  which  we  were 
continually  falling."  His  part  at  Commencement  was  an 

202 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


English  Oration,  of  which  the  great  mathematician  Charles 
Frederic  Gauss  was  the  subject. 

After  leaving  college  he  spent  two  years  in  travel  in  Europe 
and,  on  his  return,  entered  a  banker's  office  in  Boston  for  the 
purpose  of  learning  finance  and  business  methods.  His  taste 
for  business,  however,  was  not  equal  to  his  love  for  science, 
and  he  accepted  the  position  of  Tutor  in  Mathematics  at  Har- 
vard, which  he  held  from  1858  to  1861.  He  then  went  to 
Paris  to  study  the  highest  order  of  mathematics,  and  remained 
in  Europe  about  three  years. 

But  circumstances  did  not  permit  him  to  lead  a  life  devoted 
merely  to  science.  The  care  of  family  property  devolved  upon 
him,  and  from  1865  to  1883  he  was  occupied  in  operating  the 
Stillwater  Woolen  Mill,  owned  mainly  by  his  family  and  of 
which  he  ultimately  became  sole  owner.  From  the  time  of  his 
father's  death  in  1881,  his  attention  was  given  to  the  man- 
agement of  the  property  interests  of  his  mother  and  of  a 
maiden  aunt,  but,  says  his  brother,  Mr.  Henry  Pearce  of  Prov- 
idence, "  all  business  interests  were  with  him  secondary  in  im- 
portance to  the  study  of  mathematics,  which  he  pursued  in- 
defatigably,  although  he  seems  to  have  felt  that  he  had  no 
message  for  the  world  and  never  published  anything." 

His  attainments  were  recognized  by  the  Faculty  of  Brown 
University  and  elsewhere.  He  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  on  February  9,  1864. 
He  corresponded  with  eminent  mathematicians,  Sylvester  and 
others,  but,  with  a  knowledge,  personal  or  through  their  works, 
of  all  the  great  men  who  have  distinguished  themselves  in  his 
favorite  science,  there  was  none,  says  his  brother,  whom  he 
regarded  with  such  reverence  as  his  former  teacher,  Professor 
Benjamin  Peirce. 

He  was  at  times  much  afflicted  with  gout,  so  that  he  could 
not  move  hand  or  foot.  It  was  when  recovering  from  an  at- 
tack that  he  wrote  the  only  note  which  the  Class  Secretary 
ever  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  from  him.  He  was  at  that 
time,  January  2,  1889,  evidently  not  in  a. happy  frame  of  mind. 
He  writes :  "  Referring  to  your  favor  of  22d  inst.  I  would 
say  that  I  have  been  and  still  am  the  Treasurer  of  the  Still- 

203 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


water  Mill,  and  have  no  other  business.  The  mill  has  been 
quiet  for  some  time  past,  to  stop  its  power  of  doing  harm. 
As  for  myself  I  am  played  out  just  now,  —  am  pulling  through 
an  attack  of  gout.  I  have  no  family,  never  had  and  do  not 
expect  to  have.  I  should  not  attend  any  class  dinner." 

But  a  brighter  future  was  awaiting  him.  Something  hap- 
pened to  enliven  his  existence  and  turn  his  thoughts  into  a 
more  cheerful  current.  A  few  years  after  the  letter  just 
quoted,  we  find  him  giving  an  "  unusually  fine  party  "  at  the 
New  Hampshire  summer  hotel,  the  "  Moosilauke,"  with  pro- 
gressive whist  for  the  first  part  of  the  evening  and  a  German 
for  the  remainder.  The  public  rooms  were  decorated  with 
flowers  and  greenery  and  the  toilets  made  a  festive  scene. 
The  German  was  led  by  Mr.  Ross  McPherson  and  Miss  Saw- 
yer of  St.  Paul,  while  Mr.  Pearce  contented  himself  with  lead- 
ing the  Virginia  Reel.  "  The  success  of  the  evening  proved 
that  he  had  paid  the  greatest  attention  to  every  detail  that  could 
secure  the  enjoyment  of  his  guests."  Now  what  is  the  expla- 
nation of  all  this  expansion  in  the  feelings  of  an  elderly  bache- 
lor? The  inference  is  irresistible  when  we  learn  that  Miss 
Sawyer  of  St.  Paul,  who  led  the  German,  was  to  become  Mrs. 
Edward  Pearce.  On  December  n,  1894,  being  then  in  his 
sixty-second  year,  he  married  at  St.  Paul,  Minnesota, 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Edward  and  Frances  Sawyer,  of  that 
place. 

He  died  very  suddenly  of  apoplexy  at  Providence  on  Janu- 
ary 14,  1899,  leaving  a  widow  but  no  issue. 

WILLIAM    HENRY    PECK, 

Son  of  COLONEL  SAMUEL  HOPKINS  and  SARAH  A.  D. 
(HOLMES)  PECK,  was  born  at  Augusta,  Georgia,  September 
30,  1830.  His  father  was  of  Connecticut  origin  and  seventh 
in  descent  from  Deacon  Paul  Peck,  who  came  from  England 
and  settled  at  Hartford  in  1635.  He  served  in  the  Mexican 
War  in  the  6th  Louisiana  Regiment,  and  was  a  very  active 
and  prosperous  business  man  in  ante-bellum  days.  His  mother 
was  a  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Nesbit  Holmes,  of  a  Georgia 
family. 

204 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


When  seven  years  old,  Peck  was  taken  to  New  Haven, 
Connecticut,  under  the  care  of  a  grandmother.  Here  he 
passed  nearly  six  years,  four  at  the  boarding-school  of  Hears 
Stiles  and  Truman  French,  during  which  he  gained  a  slight 
knowledge  of  the  French  and  Latin  languages,  and  made  two 
visits  to  his  home.  While  at  New  Haven,  he  was,  as  he  says, 
"  drowned "  in  Mill  River,  but  fortunately  resuscitated. 
From  subsequent  repeated  escapes  of  the  same  kind  in  various 
waters,  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  not  one  of  those 
born  to  be  drowned. 

In  1843  ne  was  taken  by  land  to  East  Florida,  with  a  party 
of  the  first  settlers  on  Indian  River.  During  the  two  years 
of  his  residence  here,  off  and  on,  he  frequently  visited  Cuba. 
His  life  from  March  9,  1845,  to  December  23,  1847,  was 
passed  at  Georgetown,  Kentucky,  where  he  was  a  student  at 
Georgetown  College,  and  a  Cadet  of  the  Western  Military 
Institution.  In  the  waters  of  Elkhorn  Creek  he  was  a  second 
time  "  drowned  "  to  insensibility. 

During  the  years  1848  and  1849  PCC^  was  rapidly  moved 
about  from  Georgetown  to  Butler  County,  Alabama,  New 
Orleans,  Washington,  D.  C.,  Cincinnati,  Ohio  —  where  he 
was  attacked  by  the  prevailing  epidemic,  the  cholera  —  to 
Washington  again,  and  finally  to  Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
where  he  arrived  on  August  30,  1849,  and  was  admitted 
Freshman  at  Harvard.  Finding  himself  insufficiently  pre- 
pared, as  might  have  been  expected  from  his  nomadic  life, 
he  followed  the  studies  of  his  class  at  Hingham  for  a  year, 
under  the  tuition  of  the  Rev.  Oliver  Stearns,  and  joined  the 
class  as  Sophomore  in  1850. 

After  graduating  in  1853,  Peck's  life  was  divided  into  two 
periods  —  first,  of  teaching,  combined,  for  part  of  the  time, 
with  journalism;  and,  secondly,  of  authorship.  In  September, 
1854,  he  was  elected  First  Assistant  in  the  New  Orleans  Pub- 
lic Schools. 

On  the  2Oth  of  October  following,  he  was  married  at  New 
Orleans  to  Mona  Blake  Kenny,  granddaughter  of  Sir  Thomas 
Blake,  of  Menbough  Castle,  County  Gal  way,  Ireland.  His 
daughter  Bertha  Elizabeth,  who  was  born  August  9,  1855, 

205 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


being  the  first-born  of  the  offspring  of  the  class,  was  the 
recipient  of  the  Class  Cup,  a  substitute  for  the  cradle. 

In  1856  he  was  elected  Principal  of  Public  Schools.  In 
December,  1856,  he  became  Professor  of  Oratory,  Elocution, 
and  Belles-lettres  in  the  University  of  Louisiana  —  a  chair 
which  he  resigned  in  1858.  He  then  carried  on  large  schools 
of  his  own,  in  1860. 

In  that  year  he  became  the  President  of  the  Masonic  Female 
College  at  Greenville,  Georgia.  While  there  he  was  editor  and 
proprietor  in  Atlanta  of  an  eight-paged  paper,  in  the  style  of 
the  "  New  York  Ledger,"  called  the  "  Georgia  Weekly,"  which 
he  continued  to  publish  during  the  whole  of  the  War,  getting 
it  out  without  fail  once  a  week.  It  was  changed  to  a  folio 
when  paper  became  scarce,  and  was  presented  sometimes  on 
wall  paper  and  sometimes  on  brown  wrapping  paper.  It  was 
perforce  remarkably  strong  in  its  secession  proclivities,  else  its 
owners,  as  he  said,  "  would  have  walked,  not  in  sackcloth' 
and  ashes,  but  in  tar  and  feathers;  for  the  country  was  in- 
sane in  those  days."  Perhaps  they  liked  journals  printed  on 
cartridge-paper. 

In  1863  he  resigned  the  Presidency  of  "  Greenville  "  and 
accepted  the  Professorship  of  Natural  Science  and  Modern 
Languages  in  Le  Vert  College,  Talbotton,  Georgia.  In  1864 
the  citizens  of  the  county  (Talbot)  asked  Professor  Peck  to 
take  charge  of  the  Collins  worth  Institute,  which  was  suffering 
for  the  want  of  teachers,  he  being  exempt  from  military  ser- 
vice because  of  near-sightedness.  He  did  so,  resigned  this 
charge  when  the  War  ended,  and,  in  1866,  sold  his  paper  and 
started  on  a  career  of  authorship  at  New  Orleans,  writing 
popular  fiction  for  the  periodicals. 

The  profession  thus  begun  was  continued  with  the  most 
substantial  results  in  New  York,  where  he  bought  a  house  in 
1868.  He  is  said  to  have  received  $15,000  for  three  stories 
written  for  the  "  New  York  Weekly,"  and  he  entered  into  an 
arrangement  with  Brown  of  the  "  Ledger  "  which  lasted  for 
more  than  a  score  of  years  and  from  which  he  derived,  it  is 
said,  an  annual  income  of  $10,000. 

Among  the  objects  of  interest  at  a  later  period,  in  his  home 

206 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


at  Atlanta,  the  one  which  he  exhibited  with  most  pride  was  a 
battered  gold  pen  with  which  he  earned  in  a  single  year 
$13,000. 

Peck's  best-known  work  is  "  The  Stone-cutter  of  Lisbon,"  a 
historical  novel  of  the  great  earthquake  in  1755.  He  wrote 
many  other  popular  novels :  "  Luke  Hammond,  the  Miser," 
"  The  Locksmith  of  Lyons,"  "  Martin  Marduke,"  "  Siballa, 
the  Sorceress,"  "  The  McDonalds,  or  the  Ashes  of  a  Southern 
Home,"  "  The  Confederate  Flag  on  the  Ocean,"  and  a  long 
list  besides. 

His  writings  have  been  praised  as  vivid  and  picturesque, 
full  of  variety  of  incident,  marked  by  the  intensity  of  plot  and 
dramatic  interest  which  characterize  the  works  of  Wilkie 
Collins. 

In  1875  the  state  of  his  wife's  health,  and  her  desire  to  be 
again  at  the  South,  caused  him  to  settle  in  Atlanta.  There  are 
many  testimonies  to  the  attractions  of  the  home  which  he  there 
established,  and  to  the  delightful  hospitality  which  he  with  his 
wife  and  daughters  dispensed  for  ten  years. 

As  his  wife's  health  required  a  change  of  climate,  he  left 
Atlanta  for  Charleston  in  1885,  and  in  February,  1886,  pur- 
chased a  hundred  acres  of  orange-growing  land  at  Courtney, 
Merritt's  Island,  Indian  River,  Florida,  and  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  the  village  of  Cocoa,  nearly  opposite.  Here  he  spent 
the  remaining  years  of  his  life,  cultivating  his  oranges  and 
enjoying  the  outdoor  sports  and  amusements  which  the  neigh- 
borhood afforded. 

In  September,  1891,  his  wife  died  suddenly  at  Atlanta. 
Five  months  later,  on  February  4,  1892,  his  own  death  oc- 
curred at  South  Jacksonville,  of  heart  failure,  hastened  by  a 
severe  cold,  at  the  residence  of  his  son-in-law,  Harold  E. 
Turner.  Six  children  survived  him : 

Bertha  Elizabeth,  born  August  9,  1855;  married  (ist) 
George  Schaefor  of  Hampton,  Georgia;  (2d)  Harold  E.  Tur- 
ner, an  English  barrister. 

Beatrice  Marion,  born  October  22,  1856;  married  Dr.  H.  E. 
Dugas,  of  Atlanta. 

Myrtis  Virginia,  born  November  10,  1859. 

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Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Mona  Byruina,  born  April  7,  1861. 
Daisy  Albertine,  born  November  7,  1862. 
Samuel  Henry,  born  August  16,  1864. 

JAMES    MILLS    PEIRCE, 

Son  of  BENJAMIN  PEIRCE  (H.  U.  1829)  and  SARAH  HUNT 
(MILLS)  PEIRCE,  was  born  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  on 
May  I,  1834,  his  father  being  at  that  time  University  Profes- 
sor of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy.  His  mother 
was  a  daughter  of  Elijah  Hunt  Mills  of  Northampton,  a  lead- 
ing lawyer  and,  in  1797,  a  graduate  of  Williams  College, 
which  honored  him  with  its  LL.D.  After  a  preliminary  ele- 
vation to  the  Speakership  of  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, upon  a  vote  well-nigh  unanimous,  Mr.  Mills  was 
elected  to  the  State  Senate  in  1811,  and  to  Congress  in  1815, 
and  then  to  the  seat  in  the  Federal  Senate,  afterwards  vacated 
by  his  retirement  in  1827,  which  made  way  for  the  first  term 
of  the  Senatorship  of  Daniel  Webster.  Rear  Admiral  Davis, 
U.  S.  N.,  married  another  daughter.  Senator  Mills  estab- 
lished at  Northampton  one  of  the  very  early  schools,  like  that 
at  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  for  the  training  of  students  in  the 
profession  of  the  law.  He  died  at  Northampton  in  1829. 

James  Mills's  grandfather,  Benjamin  Peirce  (H.  U.  1801), 
was,  from  the  year  1826  to  the  time  of  his  death  in  1831,  the 
College  Librarian,  and  was  the  author  of  a  "  History  of  Har- 
vard University,  from  its  Foundation  to  the  Period  of  the 
American  Revolution,"  published  after  his  death  under  the 
editorship  of  his  friend,  John  Pickering. 

Except  for  Browne,  Peirce  was  the  youngest  of  the  class, 
and  he  was  a  tutor  in  his  twentieth  year,  and  lived  to  be  the 
oldest  member  of  the  Faculty.  At  the  age  of  four  James 
Mills  was  sent  to  the  school  of  Miss  Emily  Jennison,  who,  he 
said,  endeared  herself  to  a  whole  generation  of  Cambridge 
boys  and  girls  by  her  kindly  nature,  and  there  he  spent  several 
years  profitably  and  delightfully.  On  June  2,  1842,  he  joined 
the  Hopkins  Classical  School  in  Cambridge,  of  which  Mr. 
E.  B.  Whitman  was  Principal,  and  there  completed  his  prepa- 
ration for  Harvard  College,  entering  as  Freshman  in  1849, 

208 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


where  he  studied  diligently.  In  his  Junior  year  he  took  the 
First  Bowdoin  Prize  for  an  English  dissertation,  Ammidown 
receiving  the  second.  In  his  Senior  year  he  took  another.  In 
his  last  summer  vacation,  July  28,  1852,  he  barely  escaped 
with  his  life  from  the  burning  wreck  of  the  North  River 
steamboat  "  Henry  Clay,"  which  took  fire  while  racing  be- 
tween Albany  and  New  York  just  above  the  Highlands.  The 
scene  was  appalling,  and  nearly  one  hundred  persons  perished, 
among  them  being  a  sister  of  Hawthorne.  Peirce  swam 
ashore,  and  his  telegram  reached  his  father  twenty  hours  be- 
fore the  Boston  papers  announced  the  disaster. 

His  part  at  Commencement  was  an  English  oration  —  "  The 
Relations  of  Mathematics  to  Modern  Science."  This  was  a 
timely  recognition  of  a  turn  of  mind  already  plain,  for  it  could 
no  longer  be  said  of  him,  if  ever,  stat  nominis  umbra.  Of  his 
college  days  he  wrote  in  the  Class  Book  words  which  have  a 
pathetic  interest  now  that  he  is  gone.  He  said,  speaking  of 
himself  in  the  third  person :  "  In  spite  of  all  that  has  been 
disagreeable  in  his  college  course,  there  is  no  part  of  his 
happy  life  in  which  he  has  experienced  so  much  real  enjoy- 
ment. He  remembers  with  especial  pleasure  the  Junior  and 
Senior  years,  and  looks  forward  with  the  most  heartfelt  re- 
gret to  the  final  scattering  of  the  class.  It  is  past  hope  that 
the  whole  class  will  ever  be  brought  together  again,  but  he 
trusts  he  may  not  lose  sight  of  one  of  its  members  as  long  as 
he  lives.'*  And  for  more  than  fifty  years  he  has  shown  the 
same  friendly  interest,  never  failing  of  a  class  dinner  or  other 
fraternal  function,  and  entertaining  the  class  at  tea  at  the  Cam- 
bridge home  on  the  afternoon  of  its  fiftieth  anniversary. 

After  leaving  college  he  passed  the  academic  year  of  1853- 
54  in  the  Harvard  Law  School,  but  by  the  end  of  it  seems  to 
have  abandoned  any  idea  he  may  have  had  of  adopting  the 
law  as  a  profession.  He  had  begun  to  interest  himself  in 
other  studies  than  the  law,  and  obtained  the  Bowdoin  Prize 
in  1854  for  a  Resident  Graduate's  Dissertation  on  the  subject 
of  "The  Character  and  Philosophical  Opinions  of  Male- 
branche,"  in  which  he  dealt  with  abstruse  problems  of  phi- 
losophy. This  essay  appeared  later  as  an  article  in  the 

209 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


"  Monthly  Religious  Magazine  "  for  June,  1856,  edited  by  the 
Rev.  Frederick  D.  Huntington. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  second  year  after  graduation,  1854- 
55,  he  was  appointed  Tutor  in  Mathematics  at  Harvard,  and 
held  the  .position  for  four  years,  until  July,   1858.     In  the 
mean  time  he  entered  the  Harvard  Divinity  School  in  March, 
1857,  and  at  about  the  same  time  published  his  first  book,  "  A 
Text  Book  of  Analytical  Geometry."    He  completed  his  course 
at  the  Divinity  School,   and  received  his  degree  on   Com- 
mencement,  1859,  when  he  delivered  an  essay  on  "  Nature 
and  the  Supernatural."    He  was  a  Proctor  from  the  summer 
of  1858  until  that  of  1861,  with  a  temporary  appointment  as 
Tutor  in  the  summer  of  1860.    Between  July,  1859,  and  Sep- 
tember, 1 86 1,  he  preached  in  various  pulpits,  but,  whether  he 
found  the  outlook  discouraging  or  began  to  doubt  his  own 
vocation,  the  clerical  profession  was  given  up,  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  academic  year  of  1861  found  him  settled  down  as 
Assistant  Professor  of  Mathematics  at  Harvard,  in  what  was 
to  be  his  life-work.     He  followed  preaching  long  enough  to 
see  that  the  service  his  father  had  done  so  much  to  recommend 
was  more  to  his  liking.  But  his  efforts  in  the  pulpit  were  by 
no  means  without  success.     When  he  officiated  at   King's 
Chapel,  he  won  such  high  approval  as  that  of  Judge  Charles 
Jackson,  and  he  preached  with  acceptance  at  Salem  and  at 
Charleston,  South  Carolina. 

He  was  promoted  to  be  University  Professor  of  Mathe- 
matics in  1869,  and  Perkins  Professor  of  Astronomy  and 
Mathematics  in  1885,  the  latter  of  which  offices  he  held  until 
his  death.  From  1872  to  1890  he  was  Secretary  of  the  Aca- 
demic Council;  from  1890  to  1895  Dean  of  the  Graduate 
Schools;  from  1895  to  1898  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts  and 
Sciences.  Peirce  was  no  slave  to  the  austerity  of  exact  sci- 
ence, but,  like  his  father,  retained  a  lively  interest  in  matters 
of  philosophy,  literature,  poetry,  music,  and  the  drama. 

A  friendly  obituary  notice  of  him  said:  "  The  death  of 
Professor  James  Mills  Peirce  of  Harvard  University  removes 
a  figure  from  Boston-Cambridge  haunts  and  society  almost  as 
familiar  and  beloved  as  any  of  the  landmarks  of  either  place. 

210 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Though  devoted  to  the  abstruse  sciences  of  Mathematics  and 
Astronomy,  he  had  a  strong  leaning  for  esthetics,  and  a  joy- 
ous and  scholarly  appreciation  in  all  the  fine  arts.  With  all 
his  learning,  and  all  his  varied  connoisseurship,  and  all  his 
vogue  and  distinction  in  society,  he  was  the  most  democratic 
and  genial  of  men,  friend  to  any  one  who  was  in  the  least 
degree  interesting  or  was  any  way  in  need  of  his  countenance 
and  a  friendly  hand.  It  is  rare  that  the  second  generation 
from  so  great  a  genius  as  Professor  Benjamin  Peirce  bears 
up  so  well  as  did  Professor  James  Peirce  in  the  overshadowing 
fame  of  his  father.  But  no  one  could  say  that  the  inherited 
mantle  of  professor  was  not  worn  by  him  with  immense  dig- 
nity as  well  as  with  the  sweetness  and  simplicity  of  one  to  the 
manner  born." 

Professor  William  E.  Byerly,  in  the  notice  of  Peirce  con- 
tained in  the  "  Harvard  Graduates  Magazine  "  for  June,  1906, 
after  having  described  the  active  part  which  Peirce  took  in  all 
the  reforms  made  during  his  fifty  years  of  service  and  his 
eighteen  years  as  executive  officer  of  the  Graduate  School, 
gives  the  following  account  of  his  teaching: 

"  In  his  own  department  he  was  no  narrow  specialist.  His 
mathematical  knowledge  was  broad  as  well  as  profound,  and 
was  lavished  on  his  teaching  instead  of  being  spent  in  research. 
Its  record  is  to  be  found,  not  in  the  memoirs  of  learned  so- 
cieties, but  in  the  note-books  of  his  students.  His  courses 
covered  a  very  wide  range,  and  every  course  was  a  masterpiece. 

"  As  a  lecturer  he  had  few  equals,  speaking  always  without 
notes,  but  yet  with  a  clearness,  precision,  and  polish  that 
would  have  been  remarkable  in  a  written  address. 

"  He  disliked  to  adopt  a  text  book,  or  even  to  keep  careful 
notes  in  a  course,  lest  it  should  tend  to  become  stereotyped, 
with  .the  result  that,  no  matter  how  often  he  taught  the  same 
subject,  his  treatment  of  it  was  never  twice  alike.  There  was 
the  same  freshness  and  spontaneity  in  his  twentieth  set  of 
lectures  as  in  his  first." 

Peirce  died,  March  21,  1906,  of  pneumonia,  after  a  few 
days'  illness.  He  was  never  married.  His  published  works 
were: 

211 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


A  Text  Book  of  Analytical  Geometry,  on  the  Basis  of  Pro- 
fessor Peirce's  Treatise.  Cambridge,  1857. 

Introduction  to  Analytic  Geometry.    Cambridge,  1869. 

Three  and  Four  Place  Tables  of  Logarithmic  and  Trigo- 
nometric Functions.  Boston,  1871. 

The  Elements  of  Logarithms,  with  an  Explanation  of  the 
Three  and  Four  Place  Tables  of  Logarithmic  and  Trigono- 
metric Functions.  Boston,  1873. 

References  to  Analytic  Geometry  —  In  Harvard  College 
Library  Bulletin,  1878-79.  Vol.  I. 

Mathematical  Tables,  chiefly  to  Four  Figures :  First  Series. 
Boston,  1879. 

An  Outline  of  the  Elements  of  Plane  Analytical  Geometry 
for  the  Use  of  Students  in  Mathematics,  C  1887-88.  Cam- 
bridge, March,  1888. 

Also  the  article,  "  Quaternions,"  in  Johnson's  New  Univer- 
sal Cyclopedia.  New  York,  1877. 

He  was  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences,  a  Member  of  the  St.  Botolph  Club  and  of  the  Shelley 
Society  of  Boston,  of  the  Players*  Club,  University  Club,  and 
Harvard  Club  of  New  York. 

EDITORIAL  NOTE.  —  In  a  sketch  of  Peirce's  career  as  college  officer,  con- 
tributed to  the  Proceedings  of  the  Colonial  Sockty,  his  classmate  and  col- 
league Hill  was  able  to  do  justice  better  than  any  one  to  some  features  of 
the  story,  and  has  not  failed  to  render  a  cordial  tribute,  giving  him  credit 
for  a  full  share  in  the  reforms  which  signalized  the  Eliot  regime.  But  it 
is  unfortunate  that  the  classmate  who  was  ordained  to  write  for  print  a 
general  characterization  of  the  Professor  should  have  been  equipped  with 
so  limited  a  knowledge  of  the  man  as  to  take  for  his  guide  the  diary  of 
another.  I  know  him  better.  While  Hill  complains  that  there  was  a  great 
gulf  between  the  P's  and  the  H's  in  the  alphabetical  seating  of  the  class, 
it  happens  that  the  P's  and  the  R's  were  not  even  divided  by  a  Q. 

The  fact  that  classmates  of  such  varied  standing  as  Eliot,  King  and  Ran- 
toul  filled,  with  Professors  Goodwin,  Byerly,  Clifford,  Fiske  and  Paine, 
the  place  of  pallbearers  at  his  funeral,  ought  to  be  enough  to  testify  to  the 
catholicity  of  Peirce's  nature. 

If  the  private  diary  which  chronicles  our  college  days  makes  but  one 
allusion  to  Peirce,  as  Professor  Hill  tells  us,  the  omission  is  due  to  no  de- 
fect of  his.  No  man  was  more  genial  in  his  advances  nor  stronger  nor 
more  constant  in  his  attachments.  If  there  were  those  in  the  class  who 
could  venture  to  overlook  such  qualities  as  his.  we  were  better  stocked 
with  the  cardinal  virtues  than  I  had  supposed.  Perhaps  his  living  out  of 
the  college  Yard  helped  along  the  notion  that  he  was  a  recluse.  My  knowl- 

212 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


edge  of  Peirce,  like  Hill's,  dates  from  1849,  but  his  house  happens  to  be  the 
only  one  in  Cambridge  in  which,  before  the  War,  I  ever  passed  a  night. 
We  had  tastes  in  common,  and  in  many  of  his  tastes  he  was  an  enthusiast. 
He  was  given  to  society.  He  took  a  leading  part  in  the  parlor-dramas 
which  were  frequent  in  Mrs.  Charles  Russell  Lowell's  hospitable  rooms 
across  Quincy  Street,  and  there  he  maintained  such  neighborly  relations 
that,  when  a  son  died  in  the  War,  he  was  asked  to  contribute  to  Colonel 
Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson's  "Harvard  Memorial  Biographies"  the  fine 
appreciation  of  Colonel  Charles  Russell  Lowell  which  appears  there.  From 
elocutionary  contests  he  never  shrank,  taking  the  Second  Boylston  Prize 
in  his  Senior  year,  and  at  the  close  of  the  Freshman  year  having  such  faith 
in  a  theory  of  the  Art  of  Speech  to  which  he  had  devoted  thought,  that 
his  enthusiasm  became  infectious  and  we  embarked  together  in  the  trial 
for  a  Boylston  Declamation  Prize.  Neither  of  us  was  rewarded  with  any 
sort  of  notice,  although  I  had  won  prizes  at  the  Latin  School,  and  although 
we  felt  sure  of  all  the  consideration  due  us,  because  Chief  Justice  Shaw, 
the  embodiment  of  fair  play,  who  knew  us  both  for  associates  of  his  son, 
and  who  heard  the  best  of  speaking  in  his  Court,  had  a  voice  in  the  award. 
But  the  humor  of  the  situation  came  to  my  relief  when,  a  little  later,  I 
stumbled  upon  Professor  Benjamin  Peirce  and  my  father,  with  their  heads 
together  in  the  rear  of  Harvard  Hall,  condoling  with  one  another  and,  no 
doubt,  lamenting  the  decline  of  oratory  in  our  great  institutions  of 
learning. 

While  we  were  students,  the  practice  of  going  on  the  stage  as  super- 
numeraries was  just  coming  into  vogue.  It  was  the  day  of  the  advent  of 
the  Italian  Opera  in  Boston.  I  remember  the  Havana  Troupe  at  the  new 
Howard  Athenaeum  —  a  structure  which  I  had  seen  built  where  the  Taber- 
nacle of  the  Millerites  had  stood,  and  where,  after  the  "  Day  of  Wrath  " 
had  been  indefinitely  postponed,  I  had  seen  in  turn  the  caucus  and  the 
circus.  Peirce  and  I  were  frequenters  of  the  theatre.  Shaw  was  often  a 
third,  and  sometimes  Dwight  another.  We  had  heard  plays  and  operas 
together  in  the  old  Federal  Street  Theatre.  We  had  seen  the  Tremont 
Theatre  removed,  and  the  Museum  built,  and  the  elder  Booth  and  Wilkes 
Booth  playing  there.  We  had  attended  the  opening  of  the  Music  Hall  and 
of  the  Boston  Theatre,  and  I  think  it  was  at  the  last,  on  an  operatic  night, 
that  Peirce,  tramping  about  the  stage  as  a  soldier  of  the  Roman  Legion  in 
all  the  pasteboard  bravery  of  the  scene,  felt  the  strap  which  held  his 
cuishes  giving  way,  and  his  tinsel-trappings  tumbling  about  his  feet.  But 
the  Roman  Eagles  never  drooped.  Peirce  was  equal  to  the  strain.  With 
one  hand  he  secured  his  armor  and  with  the  other  he  held  aloft,  as  though 
empires  were  at  stake,  the  proud  S  P  Q  R  standard  of  the  Conquerors  of 
the  World,  and,  while  getting  no  aid  from  prompter  or  conductor,  saved 
a  trying  situation  and  the  honor  of  the  class. 

ELLIS    PETERSON, 

Son  of  REUBEN  and  DEBORAH  (CLARK)  PETERSON,  was 
born  at  Duxbury,  Massachusetts,  September  2,  1830,  and  was 
fitted  for  college  at  the  Partridge  Academy  in  that  town,  then 
under  James  Ritchie.  He  kept  school  during  the  four  winters 

213 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


of  his  college  life  —  in  the  first  at  Marshfield,  in  the  three  fol- 
lowing in  the  Union  School  at  Duxbury. 

In  his  first  year  after  graduation,  1853-54,  he  was  Preceptor 
of  the  Partridge  Academy.  The  following  year  was  spent  as 
a  student  in  the  Harvard  Divinity  School.  But  he  was  obliged 
by  ill-health  to  abandon  his  theological  studies  and,  like  his 
classmate  Wilson,  take  to  surveying,  becoming  a  member  of 
the  party  which  located  the  centre  of  the  Fitchburg  Railroad. 
Beginning  in  the  year  1856,  the  remainder  of  his  life  was 
that  of  school-master  and  educator.  The  following  are  the 
dates  and  places  of  his  service:  1856-62,  Castine,  Maine; 
1862-63,  Holliston,  Massachusetts;  1863-64,  Castine,  Maine; 
April,  1865,  to  March,  1867,  High  School,  Bangor,  Maine; 
March,  1867,  to  June,  1869,  High  School,  Worcester,  Massa- 
chusetts. In  1869-70  he  travelled  in  Europe,  and  in  the  latter 
year  received  the  appointment  of  Assistant  Professor  of  Phi- 
losophy at  Harvard  and  held  that  position  for  two  years,  after 
which  he  returned  to  Worcester,  to  take  charge  again  of  the 
High  School. 

He  taught  there  until  1875.  Then  he  opened  a  private 
school  in  the  same  city,  where  he  remained  for  a  year.  For 
the  succeeding  twenty-six  years,  1876-1902,  he  held  the  re- 
sponsible office  of  Supervisor  of  the  Public  Schools  of  Boston. 
His  duties  were  to  examine  candidates  for  certificates  of  quali- 
fication to  teach;  to  observe  teachers  appointed  on  probation, 
and  to  report  whether  or  not  such  teachers  should  be  con- 
firmed; to  inspect  and  examine  schools  and  the  teaching  in 
them,  and  to  prepare  questions  for  admission,  for  promotion 
and  for  diploma  examinations  in  the  several  grades  of  schools, 
Primary,  High,  Latin,  and  Normal. 

His  work  as  Supervisor  received  high  commendations  from 
persons  every  way  qualified  to  judge  of  it.  At  a  memorial 
service,  held  May  i,  1904,  in  the  Unitarian  Church  at  Jamaica 
Plain,  Mr.  Edwin  P.  Seaver,  Superintendent  of  Public 
Schools,  said :  "  Ellis  Peterson  was  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Supervisors  of  the  Public  Schools  of  Boston  from  the 
organization  of  this  board  to  his  retirement  in  1902.  It  may 
be  said  that  by  Mr.  Peterson  more  than  by  any  other  one  per- 

211 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


son  have  been  determined  the  spirit  and  methods  of  school 
supervision  in  Boston.  From  first  to  last  he  held  steadfastly 
to  the  original  idea  that  there  should  be  an  independent,  com- 
petent, discriminating,  and  just  tribunal  for  the  judgment  of 
all  teachers  and  their  work,  the  records  of  which  judgment 
should  be  the  basis  for  the  appointment,  promotion,  continu- 
ance, or  removal  of  all  teachers.  Every  enlargement  and  im- 
provement of  public  instruction  that  has  taken  place  since  1876 
owes  much  to  the  wise  and  progressive  counsels  of  Mr.  Peter- 
son. The  introduction  of  manual  training,  cooking,  physi- 
cal training,  and  the  kindergarten  was  advocated  and  aided 
by  him.  The  betterment  of  instruction  in  music  and  drawing 
had  his  support.  The  enlargement  of  the  High  School  courses 
of  study,  and  the  elevation  of  the  standard  of  teaching  in  the 
High  School,  engaged  his  most  earnest  thought  and  effort  for 
many  years.  In  the  development  of  evening  schools,  the  or- 
ganizing mind  of  Mr.  Peterson  has  been  constantly  influen- 
tial from  the  beginning.  There  is  a  service  the  chief  virtue 
of  which  arises  from  the  personal  character  of  him  who  ren- 
ders it.  Such  service  was  Mr.  Peterson's." 

Dr.  John  Tetlow,  Principal  of  the  Girl's  Latin  School,  char- 
acterized Mr.  Peterson  as  a  man  of  inflexible  integrity  and 
unflinching  moral  courage.  He  never  paid  an  insincere  com- 
pliment and  he  never  shrank  from  the  duty,  when  it  was  a 
duty,  of  telling  an  unwelcome  truth. 

President  Eliot  spoke  of  Peterson's  life  as  one  of  the  most 
satisfactory  and  happiest  he  had  ever  known.  "  It  was  natu- 
ral, simple,  and  dutiful,  and  concerned  with  high  things.  His 
joys  were  the  natural  joys.  He  loved  fields,  forests,  and  hills, 
and  literature.  His  tastes  were  simple  and  refined.  He  had 
enough  but  not  too  much,  and  was  never  so  overloaded  with 
things  possessed  that  he  missed  delights  that  come  to  us  only 
through  or  by  persons. 

"  Yet  nobody  was  ever  more  independent  in  spirit  or 
sturdier  in  official  duty  than  Ellis  Peterson.  The  erectness 
of  his  carriage  represented  the  attitude  of  his  soul.  In 
debate  or  controversy  the  patience,  resoluteness,  and  probity 
of  his  spirit  shone  from  his  eyes.  Nobody  could  suspect 

215 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


him  of  hiding  or  qualifying  his  convictions  through  fear  of 
consequences. 

"  His  duties  as  Supervisor  were  always  arduous  as  regards 
the  amount  and  urgency  of  the  work,  but  they  were  much 
more  than  arduous,  for  they  called  incessantly  for  vigilance, 
candor,  gentleness,  and  justice. 

"  Finally,  Ellis  Peterson  won  the  best  of  human  joys,  family 
felicity,  a  true  marriage,  and  worthy  grown-up  children.  After 
a  year  of  exemption  from  official  cares,  Peterson  was  ap- 
pointed Supervisor  of  State  Normal  Schools,  an  office  which 
he  held  for  one  year." 

Peterson  died,  April  9,  1904,  after  a  short  illness.  He  was 
married  to  Abby  Almira  Wheeler,  daughter  of  Daniel  Read 
and  Susan  (Halladay)  Wheeler  of  Rutland,  Massachusetts, 
July  28,  1874,  who  survived  her  husband.  Their  children 
were:  Ellis,  born  September  24,  1875;  Sidney,  born  January 
9,  1878  (H.  U.  1899) ;  Caro,  born  July  2,  1880,  died  October 
14,  1880;  Abbot,  born  March  16,  1884  (H.  U.  1904). 

CHARLES    COOLIDGE    POMEROY, 

Oldest  son  of  SAMUEL  WYLLYS  and  KATHARIN  BAYER 
(COOLIDGE)  POMEROY,  was  born  at  Philadelphia,  March  7, 
1833.  His  early  youth  was  spent  in  Cincinnati  and  he  pre- 
pared there  for  college. 

He  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849  and,  after  gradu- 
ation, studied  law  in  Cincinnati  for  a  time,  but  later  assisted 
his  father  in  the  management  of  coal  properties  at  Pomeroy, 
Ohio.  At  the  outset  of  the  Civil  War,  on  May  14,  1861,  he 
received  the  commission  of  Captain  in  the  nth  Regiment  of 
Infantry  of  the  regular  United  States  Army,  and  was  for  a 
time  in  command  of  Fort  Independence  in  Boston  Harbor, 
and  from  there  was  transferred  to  Portsmouth  Grove,  Rhode 
Island,  and  subsequently  to  Indianapolis,  Indiana,  on  recruit- 
ing and  mustering  service,  and  to  Springfield  and  Chicago, 
Illinois,  as  mustering  and  disbursing  officer.  He  was  bre- 
vetted  Lieutenant-Colonel,  U.  S.  A.,  November  13,  1865,  and 
resigned  October  5,  1867.  He  married,  just  after  the  War, 
Edith,  daughter  of  Robert  W.  and  Margaret  Groesbeck 

216 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Bur  net,  of  Cincinnati,   and  granddaughter  of  Judge  Jacob 
Burnet. 

Pomeroy  for  many  years  divided  his  time  between  Europe 
and  his  home  in  Cincinnati,  but  in  1880  became  a  member  of 
the  banking  firm  of  Post  &  Pomeroy,  afterwards  Post,  Martin 
&  Co.,  New  York,  and  made  that  city  his  residence,  until  his 
death,  on  February  22,  1898,  which  resulted  from  a  stroke  of 
apoplexy  within  an  hour  after  the  attack.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Metropolitan,  Union  Riding,  and  Harvard  Clubs  and 
of  the  Down  Town  Association.  His  widow,  who  died  May 
1 8,  1911,  and  two  daughters  —  Margaret  Burnet,  born  at 
Cincinnati  in  1870,  married  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  July 
22,  1905,  to  Philip  Allen  Clark,  and  Mary  Burnet,  born  at 
New  York  in  1882,  and  married  to  Edward  Van  Austen  of 
England  —  survived  him. 

ROBERT    SAMUEL    RANTOUL 

I  was  born  at  Beverly,  Massachusetts,  in  a  house  so  near 
the  sea  that  the  southwesters  would  now  and  then  encrust  the 
windows  facing  towards  the  water  with  a  frosting  of  salt,  and 
never,  until  I  was  forty-four  years  of  age,  when  I  found  my- 
self at  Baden-Baden  for  a  season,  had  I  passed  a  summer  out 
of  the  hearing  and  sight  and  smell  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 

But  my  home  was  at  once  changed  to  Gloucester,  where  I 
passed  seven  years,  going  to  school  first,  on  high  ground,  about 
where  the  City  Hlall  now  stands,  to  a  tall,  elderly,  bright- 
minded  woman,  who  was  endowed  with  the  frame  of  a  grena- 
dier, and  with  a  distinctness  of  conception  and  a  clearness  of 
statement  which  made  Judith  Millett's  teaching  highly  valued 
in  all  the  countryside.  When  the  Eastern  Railroad  was  com- 
pleted between  Boston  and  Beverly,  my  father  took  up  his 
residence  at  the  Beverly  homestead  and  visited  Boston  daily 
by  rail,  establishing  his  business  in  and  about  Court  Square. 
This  was  in  1839.  I  then  pursued  my  schooling,  first  with 
Mrs.  Mary  Thorndike  Weld,  and  next  at  the  Beverly  Acad- 
emy, a  corporate  school  under  the  excellent  instruction  of 
Thomas  Barnard  West,  of  Salem.  In  1845  I  entered  the  Bos- 
ton Latin  School  for  a  four  years'  course,  and  then  lived  in 

217 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


a  long,  brick  dwelling  off  North  Russell  Street,  having  its  end 
towards  the  street,  and  its  front  door  against  an  open  yard  — 
a  house  disguised  with  rough-cast  and  cheerfully  festooned 
with  grape-vines.  In  the  next  house  lived  Frederic  D.  Wil- 
liams (H.  U.  1850)  since  known  as  an  artist  in  Paris  and  at 
home,  and  just  around  the  corner  lived  Winsor,  struggling 
with  his  history  of  Duxbury,  which  was  well  advanced,  his 
chamber  littered  with  books  and  papers,  and  his  half-bred 
Arab  horse,  from  his  father's  Vermont  farm,  ready  to  take 
us  for  a  drive  as  often  as  he  had  finished  a  chapter. 

Across  Cambridge  Street,  on  the  side  of  the  hill,  was 
grouped  the  whole  colored  population  of  Boston.  And  this 
gave  a  decided  tinge  to  the  industries  of  the  section.  At  night, 
just  before  bedtime,  a  stalwart  negro  would  make  his  rounds, 
harnessed  with  a  yoke  over  his  shoulders  from  which  were 
hung  two  good-sized  tin  pails  provided  below  with  spirit- 
lamps,  and  these  contained  a  supply  of  savory  stewed  oysters, 
which  householders  drew  on  with  their  bowls  and  cans  when 
summoned  forth,  just  before  retiring,  by  the  cheery  cry, 
"Hot  Oy!" 

And  then  there  was  the  itinerant  boot-black,  fixed  in  Dr. 
Holmes's  verse  like  a  fly  in  amber,  with  his  long  pole  resting 
on  either  shoulder,  from  which  depended  footgear  in  pairs, 
the  begrimed  on  one  side  and  the  radiant  on  the  other,  taking, 
almost  with  the  regularity  of  a  shuttle,  your  soiled  shoes 
to-day  and  returning  them  clean  to-morrow,  but  requiring,  as 
the  canny  doctor  discovered,  a  double  stock  of  footwear  to 
complete  the  circuit: 

"  Two  pairs  of  boots  one  pair  of  feet  demands 
If  polished  daily  by  the  owner's  hands ; 
When  the  dark  menial's  visits  save  you  this, 
Have  twice  the  number,  for  he  '11  sometimes  miss ! " 

School-keeping  was  a  feature  of  my  college  life  which  I 
enjoyed  in  common  with  others,  and  which  I  found  inter- 
esting in  itself.  Nothing  tends  to  fix  in  the  mind  a  branch 
of  knowledge  more  firmly  than  teaching  it  to  another.  Sum- 
mer hotel-service  seems  now  to  have  supplanted  winter  school 

218 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


teaching.  The  district-schools  were  kept  open  for  three 
months,  between  Thanksgiving  and  the  annual  Town  Meet- 
ings in  March,  and  college  terms  were  apportioned  with 
some  reference  to  school-keeping.  There  was  a  long  winter 
vacation  extending  from  the  middle  of  January  to  March, 
and  the  six  weeks  of  term-time  between  Thanksgiving  and 
mid- January  might  be  availed  of  for  school-keeping  and  the 
omitted  studies  made  up.  This  was  sometimes  done,  but  gen- 
erally the  students  who  made  a  prime  consideration  of  college 
rank  did  not  go  away  to  teach.  Few  of  the  first  scholars  did 
so,  though  many  men  who  took  parts  did  so,  and  must  have 
made  up  their  cuts.  It  was  an  open  issue  with  school- 
committee  men  between  the  merits  as  school-masters  of  col- 
lege-bred men  and  normal  school  men,  —  whether  they  should 
prefer  a  teacher  with  more  technical  knowledge  or  with  more 
general  information. 

The  whole  system  in  our  day  was  very  crude.  Agencies  for 
bringing  together  the  school-committee  man  and  the  would-be 
teacher  scarcely  existed.  In  the  Freshman  winter  some  dozen 
of  us  agreed  to  find  schools  within  easy  reach  of  one  another, 
and  to  this  end  deputed  Gage  to  reconnoitre  Cape  Cod,  but 
he  came  back  with  so  discouraging  a  report,  finding  the  sand 
too  deep,  that  nothing  further  was  done.  The  next  autumn 
Ward  and  I,  in  behalf  of  others,  made  a  survey  of  Chelmsford, 
Billerica  and  the  region  about  Lowell.  Ward  lived  at  West 
Newton,  and  had  a  pair  of  tiny  Corsican  ponies,  whose  en- 
durance was  phenomenal,  and  we  used  to  start  out  early  Satur- 
days and  scour  the  country  until  nightfall.  But  either  we 
opened  our  campaign  too  late  in  the  season,  or  our  equipage 
was  forbidding  —  for  some  reason  or  other  we  failed  to  se- 
cure schools.  The  next  year  I  was  helped,  perhaps,  by  having 
a  friend  at  court.  Horace  Mann,  then  the  successor  in  Con- 
gress of  John  Quincy  Adams,  had  superintended  the  erection 
of  a  high  school  —  a  new  thing  in  Walpole  —  embodying 
ideas  of  his  own,  and  was  not  averse  to  trying  the  experiment 
of  opening  it  with  a  teacher  whose  father  had  been  a  colleague 
of  his  on  Governor  Everett's  original  Board  of  Education. 
The  traditional  plan  of  supporting  the  teacher  by  "  boarding 

219 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


around  "  was  just  outgrown  at  that  time,  and  I  was  spared  that 
test  of  endurance  and  was  lodged  in  a  snug  little  cottage  not 
far  away.  The  school  was  made  up  of  incongruous  elements. 
There  was  a  good  contingent  of  children  from  families  of  cul- 
ture—  the  doctors,  the  clergymen,  the  business  men  and 
farmers  —  and  these  were  ready  and  anxious  to  learn.  But 
there  was  a  rough,  militant  element  from  a  factory  village 
hard  by,  which  had  other  ambitions.  This  was  no  new  thing. 
When  Mr.  Everett  tried  teaching,  he  wrote  home  to  his  aunt 
that  he  had  for  pupils  "  great  men  with  beards."  By  keeping 
an  evening  school  on  my  own  account,  several  nights  in  the 
week,  for  those  who  were  willing  to  learn,  I  was  able  to 
advance  the  more  hopeful  element  so  far  that  the  average 
proficiency  of  the  school  made  a  fair  showing  when  the  term 
closed,  but  at  the  cost  of  a  severe  strain  on  the  teacher. 

The  common-school  system  was  barely  established  in  popu- 
lar favor  then.  The  State  was  employing  agents  to  commend 
it  in  public  addresses.  Charles  W.  Upham  and  Nathaniel  P. 
Banks  were  among  them.  One  adverse  influence  it  encoun- 
tered was  that  of  a  class  of  tax-payers  who  claimed  that,  as 
they  would  never  use  public  schools,  but  had  to  pay  for  the 
schooling  of  their  children  at  private  hands,  they  ought  not  to 
be  taxed  to  support  a  school  system  for  others.  The  only 
conclusive  answer  to  this  plea  was,  to  make  the  public  schools 
so  good  that  the  tax-payer  who  sent  his  children  to  any  other 
school  would  be  consciously  giving  them  an  inferior  schooling. 
This  the  advocates  of  the  school  system  set  themselves  to 
effect.  The  Boston  Latin  School  of  that  day,  judged  by  the 
class  of  families  that  supplied  its  pupils,  or  judged  by  the 
percentage  of  its  pupils  who  showed  well  in  Harvard  ex- 
aminations, was  the  best  school  of  the  kind  in  Boston.  Great 
strides  were  making  in  the  average  educational  equipment  of 
the  State,  but  the  system  was  not  then  the  automatic  machine 
it  has  since  become. 

In  the  Senior  year  I  kept  a  district-school  in  the  heart  of 
the  Old  Colony  —  at  Pembroke,  which  was  the  west  parish 
of  Duxbury,  early  erected  into  a  township.  I  found  myself 
not  only  in  the  midst  of  Mayflower  descendants  and  Pilgrim 

220 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


homesteads  —  the  Mayflower  names  were  the  common  herit- 
age of  everybody  —  but  near  enough  to  the  State  Normal 
School  at  Bridgewater  to  be  conscious  of  its  atmosphere.  And 
also  I  had  classmates  teaching  close  at  hand,  and  could  ex- 
change calls  with  Guild  and  Weld  and  Peterson  and  Dwelley 
and  with  students  from  other  colleges. 

After  graduation,  I  lived  at  home  in  Beverly  for  a  year,  and 
had  a  desk  in  the  law-office  of  Charles  Greely  Loring,  in 
Boston,  going  up  and  down  daily  in  the  cars.  This  was  the 
exciting  winter  of  1853-54,  and  of  the  historic  Anthony  Burns 
rendition,  which  I  witnessed,  in  company  with  Wilder  Dwight 
and  others,  from  the  office-window  of  Franklin  Dexter  oppo- 
site the  Old  Stone  Court  House.  Several  of  us  had  been  in- 
vited by  Richard  H.  Dana,  counsel  for  the  fugitive,  to  take 
notes  for  him  at  the  hearing  before  Judge  Edward  Greely 
Loring,  and  I  did  so  with  the  rest.  I  had  also  been  present  at 
the  hearing  before  George  Ticknor  Curtis  on  the  rendition,  in 
1851,  of  Thomas  Simms,  for  whom  my  father  and  Mr. 
Charles  G.  Loring  had  been  of  counsel.  My  father  died  in  my 
Junior  vacation. 

At  Beverly,  during  the  summers  of  1853  and  1854,  I  had 
charge  of  half  a  dozen  youngsters  in  the  Loring  and  Jackson 
families,  who  were  fitting  for  Harvard  with  Mr.  Sullivan 
under  Park  Street  Church,  and  who  were  anxious  to  extend 
their  summer  vacation  in  the  country  without  getting  behind 
in  their  preparatory  work.  One  of  them  was  Cabot  Russell, 
who  perished  with  Colonel  Shaw  and  the  54th  Regiment,  in 
which  he  was  a  captain,  in  the  historic  assault  on  Fort  Wag- 
ner ;  and  one  was  Charles  Loring  Jackson,  afterwards  a  Pro- 
fessor at  Harvard.  In  September,  1854,  I  entered  the  Dane 
Law  School,  rooming  at  Divinity  Hall,  and  continued  that 
arrangement  until  January,  1856,  when  I  was  admitted  to  the 
Bar  at  Salem,  for  a  while  being  allowed  a  desk  in  the  office  of 
the  law-partners,  Messrs.  S.  H.  Phillips  (H.  U.  1842)  and 
J.  A.  Gillis  (H.  U.  1849),  an(*  residing  at  Beverly.  At  the 
autumn  election  of  1857  I  was  chosen  a  Representative  to 
the  General  Court  from  the  district  of  Beverly,  Wenham,  and 
Hamilton. 

221 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


On  May  13,  1858,  I  was  married  and  took  up  my  residence 
in  Salem.  My  wife  was  the  youngest  child  of  David  Augus- 
tus and  Harriet  Charlotte  (Price)  Neal,  of  Salem.  She  was 
five  years  my  junior,  and  was  pledged  to  me  before  she  was 
seventeen  and  while  still  attending  Mrs.  Lowell's  School.  In 
the  weightiest  transaction  of  my  life  I  have  been  the  most 
fortunate.  But  on  May  20,  1899,  she  died,  leaving  me,  after 
a  union  of  forty-one  years,  with  a  grown-up  family  of  six 
sons  and  three  daughters  —  three  of  the  sons  married,  four  of 
them  graduates  of  Harvard.  We  had,  in  1867,  built  a  sum- 
mer cottage  at  Beverly  Farms.  Salem  and  Beverly  may  be 
regarded  as  the  habitat  of  our  stock.  They  adjoin  each  other. 
The  Neals,  tracing  back  to  the  earliest  settlement,  have  had 
no  home  but  Salem.  My  mother  was  a  lineal  descendant  of 
John  Woodbury,  of  Salem  —  the  "  father  Woodbury,"  and 
"first  Constable,"  and  "first  Minister  to  England,"  of  the 
little  colony  which  removed  with  Roger  Conant  from  Cape 
Ann  to  Naumkeag  in  1626.  My  father's  family  and  name 
trace  back  in  this  country  only  to  1769,  when  a  Scottish  lad 
of  sixteen  was  seized  by  a  press-gang,  probably  in  Glasgow, 
and  forced  on  board  one  of  the  British  frigates  sailing  for 
Boston  in  that  year  to  enforce  the  tea-tax.  From  this  he 
escaped,  and  afterwards  lived  at  Beverly  and  Salem,  finally 
perishing,  with  all  under  his  command,  in  William  Gray's 
ship  "  Iris,"  which  he  had  formerly  commanded  as  a  "  Letter 
of  Marque,"  in  a  storm  off  the  coast  of  Virginia,  in  1783, 
when  only  thirty  years  of  age.  In  1912  I  was  able  to  trace 
out  his  birthplace  among  the  hills  overlooking  Loch  Leven 
in  Kinross,  Fifeshire. 

I  was  appointed  by  President  Lincoln,  in  January,  1865,  Col- 
lector of  the  Customs  for  the  Port  of  Salem  and  Beverly,  and, 
after  completing  my  four  years'  term,  was  at  the  unanimous 
request  of  the  Merchants  of  the  Port,  expressed  in  a  petition, 
retained  in  that  office  until  June,  1869,  owing  my  supersedure 
at  that  date  to  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  then  the  Representative  of 
this  District  in  Congress  —  a  Republican,  who  was  advocating 
fiat  money  and  other  financial  heresies,  and  whose  reelection 
I  had  publicly  declined  to  support.  I  state  this  cause  of  my 

222 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


removal  without  qualification,  because  General  Butler's  letters 
stated  that  the  occasion  of  my  removal  was  my  failure  to  sup- 
port him.  Foreign  commerce  had  not  then  quite  deserted 
Salem.  The  Collector's  bond  was  in  the  penal  sum  of  $40,000, 
and  the  sum  of  $112,000  had  been  collected  in  duties  in  one 
of  my  official  years.  Such  a  sum  had  not  been  collected  for 
years  before,  and  has  never  been  collected  since.  Such  a  sum 
might  have  been  collected  on  one  cargo  in  the  palmy  days. 
Salem  commerce  is  as  much  a  matter  of  the  past  as  Witch- 
craft or  King  Philip's  War.  It  leaves  a  brilliant  record. 

In  the  autumn  of  1869  I  took  an  office  in  Pemberton  Square, 
Boston,  having  as  a  room-mate  John  Noble,  '50,  later  Clerk 
of  Courts,  and  here  I  remained  until  the  spring  of  1875, 
during  a  considerable  part  of  that  time  acting  as  an  unattached 
editorial  writer  for  the  "  Evening  Transcript,"  of  which  jour- 
nal the  editorship,  becoming  vacant  by  death  at  that  date,  was 
offered  to  me.  In  August,  1875,  I  went  with  my  family  to 
Germany,  and  lived  at  Stuttgart,  and  at  Baden-Baden  near  by, 
for  two  years,  and  then  in  Paris  and  French  Switzerland  for 
two  years,  returning  through  England  to  Salem  in  October, 
1879.  On  the  Fourth  of  July,  1876,  I  had  delivered  the  Cen- 
tennial address  before  the  American  Colony  of  Wurtemberg, 
and  in  1878  I  spoke  for  the  United  States  at  the  dinner  given 
to  General  Grant  at  Paris  on  his  tour  around  the  world,  the 
American  Minister  being  unable  to  do  this  because  occupying 
the  Chair.  In  1880  I  was  an  Alderman  of  Salem,  and  de- 
livered the  address  before  the  Essex  Institute  and  the  City 
Authorities,  on  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
the  landing  at  Salem  of  Governor  John  Winthrop,  a  copy  of 
which  address  was  deposited  by  Governor  Ames  in  the  corner- 
stone of  the  last  extension  of  the  State  House.  In  the  elec- 
tion at  the  end  of  this  year  I  was  a  defeated  candidate  for  the 
mayoralty  of  Salem.  I  was  Chairman  of  the  City  Republican 
Committee  through  the  campaigns  which  resulted  in  electing 
Garfield  in  1880  and  Cleveland  in  1884,  an<^  during  the  inter- 
vening years,  supporting  Blaine  in  the  last-named  campaign, 
much  against  my  judgment  and  inclination,  but  under  strong 
personal  urgency  from  Judge  Ebenezer  Rockwood  Hoar  and 

223 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


from  John  Greenleaf  Whittier.  In  one  of  the  intervening 
years  I  was  a  defeated  Republican  candidate  for  the  State 
Legislature.  Another  year  was  that  of  the  election  of  George 
Dexter  Robinson  (H.  U.  1856)  over  Governor  Butler,  who 
had  then  become  a  Democrat,  and  in  this  campaign  I  was  a 
member  of  the  Republican  State  Central  Committee,  and  took 
an  active  part  by  furnishing  editorial  matter  for  local  news- 
papers and  in  other  ways.  In  1883  and  in  1884  I  was  chosen 
to  represent  a  Salem  district  in  the  State  Legislature,  and  did 
what  I  could  to  prevent  dispensing  with  the  poll-tax  as  a  pre- 
requisite for  suffrage  —  failing  in  this  effort  —  and  to  resist 
the  adoption  of  the  biennial  system,  so  called,  which  I  was 
largely  instrumental  in  defeating. 

At  the  close  of  the  Legislative  session  of  1885  I  again  went 
to  Europe  with  a  portion  of  my  family,  returning  to  Salem 
in  October,  1886,  having  visited  Paris,  Brittany,  Belgium, 
and  parts  of  England.  My  family  of  young  children  gener- 
ally made  it  impossible  for  me  to  move  about  with  much  free- 
dom in  these  foreign  countries,  especially  upon  my  first  visit 
of  1875-79,  but  rather  constrained  me  to  select  places  of  resi- 
dence where  I  was  content  to  remain  for  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  months  at  a  time,  that  I  might  keep  my  children  at 
school,  or  have  them  taught,  and  thus  I  got  an  inside  view 
of  the  home-life  of  several  sections  of  Europe  much  more  in- 
timate than  that  acquired  generally  by  American  tourists. 
Travelling  abroad  is  one  thing  —  and  a  most  desirable  thing 
it  is  —  but  living  abroad  is  quite  another  thing,  and  equally 
desirable  in  a  very  different  way.  My  experience,  especially 
in  my  first  ventures,  has  partaken  almost  wholly  of  the  latter 
character.  To  settle  down  in  a  home  of  one's  own  in  a 
strange  land,  having  children  in  the  schools  and  credit  in  the 
shops,  take  in  the  daily  papers,  and  be  an  abonne  at  the  opera 
and  playhouse  —  this  gives  one  a  feeling  of  identification  with 
the  native  stock  from  which  the  English  traveller,  whose  ideal 
is  to  carry  England  about  with  him  wherever  he  goes,  is  for- 
ever estranged.  To  me  it  is  the  lesson  of  value  that  travel 
has  to  teach  —  to  learn  how  people  as  human  as  ourselves  can 
live  and  act  in  ways  the  opposite  of  what  we  hold  correct,  and 

224 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


not  suppose  for  a  moment  that  they  are  not  quite  as  right  and 
happy  as  ourselves. 

Gradually,  after  1884,  I  drifted  away  from  the  Republican 
party  of  which  I  had  been,  in  1855,  one  of  the  organizers,  and 
in  which  I  had  since  acted  with  a  good  share  of  enthusiasm. 
It  pleases  me  better  to  think  that  the  Republican  party  had 
drifted  away  from  me.  It  seemed  to  me  to  be  abusing  the 
confidence  of  the  people.  In  1888  I  declared  myself  for  Presi- 
dent Cleveland,  when  he  was  a  candidate  for  reelection  and 
was  defeated  by  Harrison.  I  have  always  regarded  protec- 
tion, as  a  means  of  keeping  foreign  products  out  of  our  mar- 
kets, to  be  an  abuse,  except  in  the  case  of  new  industries  strug- 
gling for  a  foothold.  I  also  regard  with  jealousy  the  tendency 
of  the  Central  Government  to  absorb  local  authority. 

Since  my  return  from  abroad  to  Salem  in  1886,  I  have 
busied  myself  much  at  the  Essex  Institute,  of  which  organiza- 
tion I  had  the  general  charge  after  leaving  the  City  Hall  in 
January,  1894,  and  of  which  I  became  President  in  1896,  re- 
signing official  connection  with  it  in  1904.  For  four  years, 
from  1890  to  1894,  I  was  Mayor  of  Salem  —  a  distinctly  Re- 
publican city  —  but  party  lines  were  not  then  always  drawn 
in  our  city  elections.  I  received  an  increasing  majority  on 
each  succeeding  vote,  and  was  again  a  candidate  for  a  fifth 
term  in  1893,  then  receiving  less  than  one  third  of  the  total 
vote  cast.  In  1895  I  was  a  defeated  candidate  on  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket  for  the  State  Senate.  In  1896  I  was  a  candidate 
of  the  Gold  Democrats  (so  called)  for  Presidential  Elector 
for  Massachusetts.  At  this  time,  after  several  urgent  requests, 
I  consented  to  be  a  candidate  for  Overseer  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, and  was  put  upon  the  ballot  and  mercilessly  slaugh- 
tered at  the  polls.  In  1900  I  was  chosen  an  honorary  member 
of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  and  accepted  the  election,  and  have 
been  chosen  a  member  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society 
and  of  the  New  England  Historic-Genealogical  Society,  which 
elections  I  have  declined.  In  1901  I  was  a  Democratic  candi- 
date for  Executive  Councillor  in  a  Republican  district,  com- 
prising Southern  Essex  County,  and  though  defeated  carried 
the  city  of  Salem  so  handsomely  that,  a  month  later,  I  was 

225 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


for  the  seventh  time  made  a  non-partisan  candidate  for  Mayor 
of  Salem,  when  I  was  defeated  by  800  votes  in  a  total  of 
6,500.  On  my  seventieth  birthday,  June  2,  1902,  the  Class  of 
'53,  to  the  number  of  eighteen,  breakfasted  with  me,  by  invi- 
tation, at  Beverly  Farms.  Twenty-nine  members  were  then 
living. 

On  resigning  the  presidency  of  the  Institute  in  July,  1904, 
I  went  with  my  daughters  to  Holland,  and  thence  through 
France,  Italy,  Sicily,  and  Greece,  as  far  East  as  Constanti- 
nople, returning  through  Hungary,  Vienna,  Paris,  and  Eng- 
land. In  1907  we  again  visited  Europe,  landing  at  the  Azores 
and  at  Gibraltar,  and  seeing  Southern  Spain,  Tangier,  the 
Italian  Riviera,  Northern  France,  and  Paris,  with  the  Mid- 
land Counties  of  England  as  far  North  as  Wales.  We  found 
Tours  and  Rouen  rare  centres  for  automobiling,  and  the 
smooth,  straight,  level  thoroughfares  of  France  ideal  for  the 
purpose.  In  1908,  while  abroad,  I  was  chosen  a  member  of 
the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  and  accepted  the  elec- 
tion. In  1909,  at  the  invitation  of  the  Essex  Institute,  I  de- 
livered the  address  on  the  Centennial  of  the  birth  of  Lincoln, 
as  I  had,  in  1896,  the  address  on  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary 
of  the  founding  of  the  Essex  Historical  Society. 

R.  S.  R. 

FRANCIS    GARDINER   RICHARDS, 

Son  of  FRANCIS  and  ANNE  (GARDINER)  RICHARDS,  was 
born  at  Gardiner,  Maine,  June  10,  1833.  His  early  instructors 
were  Messrs.  Whitman  and  Winnett,  the  former  afterwards 
Principal  of  the  Hopkins  Classical  School  at  Cambridge ;  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Doria  of  West  Wickham,  Kent,  England ;  Fred- 
erick Eustis  of  Milton,  Massachusetts;  and  Roswell  Park  of 
Pom  fret,  Connecticut. 

In  the  spring  of  1849  ne  resolved  to  enter  Harvard  Col- 
lege, and  for  that  purpose  reviewed  the  necessary  studies 
under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Frederick  Gardiner,  of  Bath, 
Maine,  and  was  admitted  Freshman  in  July.  In  the  Junior 
year  Richards  obtained  the  Bowdoin  prize  for  Latin  ver- 
sification, the  translation  of  a  passage  from  "  Cowper's 

226 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Task "  in  hexameters.  In  this  his  English  training  stood 
him  in  good  stead.  The  Wickham  pupils  had  been  taught 
to  speak  Latin  at  breakfast. 

On  leaving  college  Richards  studied  law  in  the  office  of 
Messrs.  Sohier  &  Welch  in  Boston,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
Bar  on  May  4,  1857.  In  that  year  he  sailed  for  India  as 
supercargo's  clerk  in  the  ship  "  Syren,"  of  which  his  uncle 
by  marriage,  Richard  Sullivan,  was  part  owner  with  Higgin- 
son  &  Silsbee.  Although  it  was  the  year  of  the  mutiny,  he 
spent  some  time  in  that  country,  and  returned  in  the  ship 
"  Medford  "  in  1858.  He  then  engaged,  at  Gardiner,  in  the 
business  of  paper-manufacturing,  which  was  hereditary  in 
his  family,  first  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Richards  &  Hos- 
kins,  and  afterwards  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Richards 
&  Co. 

He  died  at  Boston  February  10,  1884. 

He  was  married  in  London,  February  18,  1879,  to  Anne, 
daughter  of  Samuel  Ashburner,  formerly  of  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts,  afterwards  of  London,  and  had  issue:  Fran- 
cis, born  February  22,  1880,  graduated  at  New  College, 
Oxford,  in  1902;  Anne  Hallo  well,  born  August  16,  1881. 

WILLIAM   HENRY   ROWE, 

Son  of  SAMUEL  and  LYDIA  ANN  (FLETCHER)  ROWE,  was 
born  in  Boston,  October  6,  1830.  When  five  years  of  age  he 
was  accidentally  hit  on  the  left  knee  by  a  stone,  which  lamed 
him  for  life. 

He  was  fitted  for  college  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  where 
a  Franklin  medal  was  awarded  him  for  his  superior  scholar- 
ship. While  in  college  he  taught  school  during  the  winter 
vacations;  in  his  Freshman  year,  in  Middleton  —  when  the 
sleighing  was  good  Browne  and  Rantoul  drove  out  from 
Salem  to  see  him;  in  his  Sophomore  year,  in  Deerfield,  New 
Hampshire;  in  his  Junior  year,  in  Braintree;  in  his  Senior 
year,  in  Taunton.  He  was  a  diligent  student.  His  part  at 
Commencement  was  a  disquisition  —  "  Prince  Metternich."  x 

1  EDITORIAL  NOTE,  — Rowe  was  handicapped  with  his  troublesome  knee, 
which  cramped  his  action  and  made  him,  to  those  who  met  him  for  the  first 

227 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Immediately  after  leaving  college,  he  entered  as  a  student 
the  office  of  Fisher  Allen  Kingsbury,  in  Weymouth,  under 
whose  tuition  he  pursued  the  study  of  the  law  for  two  years. 
While  in  this  place,  he  was  instrumental  in  establishing  a 
debating  society,  of  which  he  was  the  leading  spirit  and  which 
was  highly  successful.  Meeting  accidentally,  in  Boston,  some 
gentlemen  from  the  West,  he  was  induced,  by  the  flattering 
prospects  held  out  for  young  lawyers  in  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try, to  go  to  Davenport,  Iowa,  where  he  entered  the  office  of 
Hon.  John  P.  Cook,  at  that  time  a  Representative  in  Congress 
from  Iowa.  Here  he  finished  his  legal  studies ;  and  in  March, 
1856,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  Davenport.  He  imme- 
diately began  practice,  still  continuing  in  the  office  of  Mr. 
Cook.  His  success  was  very  great,  and  he  was  soon  in  full 
practice,  with  a  brilliant  prospect  before  him.  He  was  a  man 

time,  an  object  of  sympathy.  His  frame  was  slight  and  his  appearance 
delicate,  but  his  physical  vigor  was  exceptional.  No  fellow  on  the  Delta 
was  more  reliable  in  a  football  match.  For  four  years  Rowe  and  I  had 
lived  near  one  another,  roused  and  lulled  to  rest  by  the  bells  of  Dr. 
Lowell's  West  Boston  Church,  and  had  tramped  twice  a  day  over  the 
Belknap  Street  Hill  from  Cambridge  Street  to  the  Common,  to  reach  the 
Latin  School  in  Bedford  Street.  And  nobody  knew  better  than  I  of  what 
fibre  he  was  made.  But  the  test  came  when  a  brother  of  our  classmate 
Ward,  from  Newton,  taking  tea  with  friends  who  lived  in  Cambridge,  at 
the  corner  of  Oxford  Street,  hitched  his  wagon  to  the  horse-post  to  await, 
later  on,  his  return  to  Newton.  The  horse  got  restive  and  broke  away,  and, 
wrenching  the  shafts  from  the  axle,  took  them  with  him  and  started  for 
home,  leaving  the  body  of  the  disabled  vehicle  standing  before  the  door. 
The  incident  had  not  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  household  before  Ward 
and  a  few  of  us,  who  had  secreted  the  wreck  in  a  near-by  stable,  as  soon 
as  it  was  dark  enough,  set  out  with  it  for  West  Newton,  manned  with  drag- 
ropes  and  thoroughly  provisioned.  Nobody  joined  in  the  prank  with  more 
zest  than  Rowe.  The  disappearance  of  the  outfit  did  not  wait  long  to  be 
announced,  nor  the  police  to  be  summoned.  The  brother  from  West  New- 
ton remained  in  Cambridge,  enlisted  in  the  search.  Meanwhile  the  horse 
had  reached  the  Ward  homestead,  had  made  the  misadventure  known,  and 
had  comfortably  installed  himself  in  his  own  quarters.  When  we  arrived 
later,  in  the  small  hours,  we  planted  the  crippled  wagon  squarely  across  the 
front  door,  so  that  passage  in  or  out  was  only  to  be  had  by  removing  it, 
stripped  the  pantry  of  its  comestibles,  and  got  off  without  detection.  We 
were  back  in  Cambridge  in  good  time  for  morning  prayers.  The  servants 
of  the  household,  on  awaking,  saw  that  the  wreck  belonged  there,  but  just 
how  it  got  there,  or  how  the  pantry  had  been  rifled,  or  who  got  the  pies 
and  baked  meats,  they  had  yet  to  learn. 

228 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


of  great  energy,  and  a  too  constant  attention  to  business  prob- 
ably affected  his  health. 

Early  in  the  year  1858  he  became  deeply  interested  in  reli- 
gion, which  induced  him  to  resolve  upon  a  different  course 
of  life.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  Boston,  dated  March  9, 
1858,  he  writes:  "  I  shall  probably  give  up  the  profession  of 
law,  and  study  for  the  ministry;  and  I  earnestly  pray  to  God 
that  he  will  accept  and  prepare  me  for  the  holy  work.  With 
God's  permission,  I  expect  to  enter  the  Seminary  at  Andover 
at  the  commencement  of  the  next  term,  viz.,  September  next; 
and  shall  probably  therefore  return  to  the  East  in  the  course 
of  a  few  months :  when,  I  don't  exactly  know." 

But  upon  this  new  profession  he  was  not  permitted  to  enter. 
In  March  the  incipient  symptoms  of  consumption  began  to  be 
developed,  and  rapidly  increased;  and  it  soon  became  mani- 
fest that  death  was  not  far  distant.  His  illness  was  not  known 
to  his  friends  here  until  some  time  afterwards ;  but,  when  the 
sad  news  reached  them,  they  took  measures  for  his  return  to 
his  native  city.  He  arrived  in  Boston  the  1st  of  July,  in  a 
state  of  extreme  debility,  and  after  three  weeks'  great  bodily 
suffering,  but  in  a  very  happy  frame  of  mind,  he  expired  on 
the  22d  of  that  month.  He  was  greatly  beloved  by  his  asso- 
ciates and  by  relatives  who  had  made  sacrifices  to  secure  his 
education,  and  who  from  his  blameless  life  and  brilliant  prom- 
ise had  anticipated  for  him  a  career  of  usefulness  and  success. 
He  was  never  married.  The  Davenport  papers  regretted  his 
loss  in  feeling  terms,  speaking  of  him  as  a  "  kind  and  cour- 
teous gentleman,  a  polished  scholar,  and  a  sincere  Christian." 


FRANCIS    HENRY   RUSSELL, 

Son  of  NATHANIEL  and  CATHERINE  ELIZABETH  (ELLIOTT) 
RUSSELL,  was  born  at  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  August  3, 
1832. 

He  was  prepared  for  college  in  the  schools  of  Plymouth 
and  under  the  tuition  of  the  Rev.  Augustus  R.  Pope,  Uni- 
tarian minister  at  Kingston,  Massachusetts,  and  entered 
Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849.  His  part  at  Commencement 

229 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


was  a  dissertation  —  "  The  Latin  Language  in  the  Middle 
Ages." 

After  graduation  he  entered  upon  the  business  of  iron 
manufacturing  at  Plymouth,  a  business  in  which  his  father 
and  grandfather  had  been  engaged  under  the  firm  name  of 
Nathaniel  Russell  &  Co.,  and  so  continued  until,  as  their  suc- 
cessor, a  corporation  was  organized  under  the  laws  of  Mas- 
sachusetts with  the  name  "  Robinson  Iron  Co.,"  of  which 
he  was  made  Treasurer.  Iron  manufacturing  having  be- 
come unprofitable  in  Massachusetts,  he  gave  up  his  position, 
and  in  1882  removed  to  Brookline,  Massachusetts,  and  be- 
came connected  with  the  Bates  Manufacturing  Company, 
cotton  manufacturers,  having  their  business  office  in  Boston, 
and  this  position  he  has  continued  to  hold. 

Russell  was  married  at  Lawrence,  Massachusetts,  to  Emily, 
daughter  of  Abiel  and  Abigail  (Archer)  Stevens,  of  Law- 
rence. Their  only  child  is  Mary  Rowland,  born  September 
i,  1860. 

GEORGE    HENRY    SARGENT, 

Son  of  JOSEPH  DENNY  and  MINDWELL  (JONES)  SARGENT, 
was  born  at  Leicester,  Massachusetts,  on  October  29,  1828, 
being  a  descendant  of  William  Sargent,  "  lay  preacher,"  who 
came  from  Northampton  in  England  in  1638  to  Charles- 
town,  and  was  made  successively  Freeman  of  the  Massachu- 
setts and  of  the  Plymouth  Colonies. 

Sargent  was  educated  in  the  town  school  of  Leicester  and 
at  Leicester  Academy,  and  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman  in 
1849,  remaining  there  until  November,  1851,  in  his  first  term 
Junior.  In  the  winter  of  1850-51  he  taught  the  town  school 
of  Leicester  with  a  success  that  challenged  an  encomium  from 
the  Chairman  of  the  School  Committee  in  his  report  to  the 
following  town  meeting.  In  April,  1852,  he  entered  the  Har- 
vard Law  School  and  remained  until  the  end  of  the  term, 
rooming  in  Massachusetts  with  his  old  chum,  Howe,  and  keep- 
ing in  touch  with  his  college  classmates.  But  the  attractions 
of  business  proved  stronger  than  those  of  the  law  and,  in  Jan- 
uary, 1853,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  his  brothers  Jo- 

230 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


seph  B.  and  Edward  Sargent  in  their  hardware  business  in 
New  York,  which  proved  to  be  the  introduction  to  a  highly 
prosperous  career.  From  this  business  there  grew  the  manu- 
factory of  hardware  at  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  where  the 
corporation,  "  Sargent  &  Co.,"  said  to  be  the  largest  of  the 
kind  in  the  world,  with  a  capital  of  $4,000,000,  and  an  im- 
mense plant,  was  established.  This  was  incorporated  in  1864, 
and  of  this  George  H.  Sargent  has  been  President  for  many 
years.  Of  the  New  York  firm,  the  brothers  Joseph  B.  and 
Edward  died  in  1907  arid  1883  respectively,  and  were  suc- 
ceeded by  new  partners,  the  firm  carrying  on  a  mercantile 
business  distinct  from  that  of  the  manufactory,  as  well  as  a 
large  export  trade. 

But  Sargent's  activities  have  not  been  confined  to  the  hard- 
ware trade.  In  politics  he  has  always  been  an  ardent  Repub- 
lican, voting  for  Fremont  in  1856,  and  for  every  Republican 
candidate  for  President  since.  In  1901  he  was  much  talked 
of  as  a  candidate  for  the  mayoralty  of  New  York,  and  the 
"  Tribune  "  newspaper  started  a  canvass  of  the  sentiment  of 
its  readers,  otherwise  called  a  "  straw  vote,"  to  test  the  popu- 
larity of  the  various  men  whose  names  were  prominently  be- 
fore the  public  in  connection  with  that  office.  Sargent's  name 
stood  at  the  head  of  a  list  of  fifteen  such  men,  he  receiving 
5,880  votes.  He  does  not  seem  to  have  encouraged  the  move- 
ment, though  naturally  gratified  by  the  demonstration  in  his 
favor.  To  all  suggestions  and  appeals  he  made  a  positive 
declaration  that  he  was  not  a  candidate  for  the  office,  and 
would  not  accept  a  nomination  were  it  tendered  to  him.  "  I 
appreciate  your  kindness,"  he  said  to  one  caller,  "but  office 
holding  has  never  been  in  my  line,  and  I  have  no  desire  to 
begin  it  now." 

Sargent  was  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
New  York  for  many  years,  and  in  the  year  1901  was  one  of 
the  delegates  appointed  to  become  the  guests  of  the  London 
Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  was  prevented  by  the  illness  of 
his  wife  from  availing  himself  of  the  opportunity  and  enjoy- 
ing the  elaborate  entertainment  planned  by  the  London  Cham- 
ber. Applying  the  maxim  Noscitur  a  Sociis,  his  rank  in  the 

231 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


business  world  is  indicated  by  the  names  of  his  fellow  dele- 
gates, J.  P.  Morgan,  M.  K.  Jesup,  Andrew  Carnegie,  among 
them.  He  was  for  many  years  a  Trustee  of  Leicester  Acad- 
emy, and  President  in  1907.  He  has  been  a  Director  in  the 
Mercantile  National  Bank  of  New  York  since  1881,  and  of 
the  Fidelity  Trust  Company  since  its  organization. 

Of  clubs,  he  has  been  member  and  for  two  years  President 
of  the  Hardware,  member  and  officer  of  The  Union  League 
and  Republican,  member  of  the  University  and  the  Harvard, 
and  prominent  as  an  official  in  promoting  the  growth  and 
success  of  the  last.  Although  his  degree  of  A.B.  was  given 
out  of  course  in  1895,  at  the  pressing  request  of  his  classmates, 
the  Class  of  1853  has  had  no  member  more  attached  to  his 
college  friends  and  the  memories  of  college  days,  or  more 
constant  in  attendance  at  its  meetings. 

Firm  in  the  religious  faith  of  his  parents,  the  parishioners 
of  the  Rev.  Samuel  May  of  Leicester,  Sargent  has  been  an 
attendant  at  the  All  Souls'  Unitarian  Church  of  New  York, 
since  the  beginning  of  his  residence  in  that  city  in  1853. 

Sargent  was  married,  on  October  15,  1855,  at  Nantucket, 
Massachusetts,  to  Sarah  C.  (deceased  April  13,  1902),  daugh- 
ter of  the  Hon.  John  H.  Shaw  and  Eliza  Ann  (Swift)  Shaw. 
Their  children  were  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  The  sons  — 
Leicester,  born  March  31,  1858,  and  Rupert,  born  March  27, 
1863,  both  at  New  York,  who  had  entered  Harvard  in  1875 
and  1880  respectively,  but  who  did  not  graduate  because  of 
a  preference  for  mercantile  life  —  were  lost  in  a  deplorable 
yachting  accident  in  August,  1883.  They  were  on  their  way 
from  New  Haven  to  Nantucket,  in  the  yacht  "  Mystery.''  The 
yacht  foundered  in  a  heavy  gale  and  their  bodies  washed 
ashore.  The  daughter,  Emily  Shaw  Sargent,  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 26,  1866,  in  New  York,  and  married  in  1895  to  Wil- 
fred Lewis,  of  Philadelphia,  and  has  three  children. 

No  notice  of  Sargent  would  be  adequate  which  failed  to 
pay  tribute  to  the  noble  and  well-considered  and  unceasing 
benefactions  bestowed  on  his  native  town.  So  conspicuous 
a  feature  of  the  contemporary  annals  of  Leicester  had  these 
become  that,  in  1911,  on  his  eighty-third  birthday,  he  was 

232 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


surprised  with  a  spontaneous  demonstration  of  the  citizens 
and  the  combined  industries  of  the  place,  with  the  school- 
children bearing  flowers.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  re- 
freshing, and  it  did  not  close  without  a  dinner  at  the  Village 
Inn  and  the  presentation  of  a  silver  cup  feelingly  inscribed. 

His  eighty-fifth  year  is  now  upon  him,  and  finds  him  still 
in  harness,  working  with  all  the  vigor  and  enthusiasm  and 
sagacity  of  earlier  years.  If  trifling  were  not  out  of  place  in 
such  a  connection,  it  might  be  said  that  what  is  hardware  for 
others  seems  not  to  be  hard  wear  for  him. 

WINSLOW    WARREN    SEVER, 

Son  of  JAMES  NICHOLAS  and  MERCY  FOSTER  (RUSSELL) 
SEVER,  was  born  at  Kingston,  Massachusetts,  on  January  31, 
1832. 

He  attended  schools  kept  by  women,  and,  at  the  age  of 
ten,  the  public  school  of  Kingston,  until  May,  1847,  when 
he  was  sent  to  the  boarding-school  of  Dr.  J.  W.  Browne  at 
Framingham,  where  the  boys,  thirty-one  in  number,  were  so 
crowded  and  so  insufficiently  accommodated  that  he  was  al- 
lowed to  return  home  in  November  following,  and  soon  after 
resumed  his  studies  under  Mr.  Charles  Barton  of  Plymouth. 
Here  he  remained  until,  in  August,  1848,  he  was  placed 
under  the  instruction  of  the  Rev.  Edmund  Quincy  Sewall, 
of  Cohasset,  with  whom  he  finished  his  preparation  for  col- 
lege and  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849.  His  Com- 
mencement part  was  an  essay  —  "  Bibliomania." 

While  in  college,  Sever,  who  had  been  educated  as  a 
Unitarian,  became  attracted  to  a  more  orthodox  type  of  re- 
ligion (in  the  New  England  sense  of  the  word  orthodox) 
and  ultimately  decided  to  study  for  the  Episcopal  ministry 
at  the  Theological  Seminary  of  Alexandria,  Virginia,  where 
he  completed  his  course  in  1856.  On  March  19  of  that  year 
he  was  ordained  Deacon  at  St.  James's  Church,  Roxbury, 
and  began  pastoral  work  at  St.  John's  Church,  Sandwich. 

In  1857  he  was  ordained  Priest,  and  from  May  13,  1857, 
to  the  autumn  of  1859,  was  Assistant  to  Dr.  Cutler,  Rector 
of  St.  Ann's  Church,  Brooklyn,  New  York. 

233 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


On  April  14,  1860,  he  began  work  at  Grace  Church,  Plain- 
field,  New  York,  and  in  the  following  July  at  St.  Mary's 
Church,  Newton  Lower  Falls,  Massachusetts,  where  he  of- 
ficiated for  four  years  and  a  half,  and  was  then  called  to 
take  charge  of  a  parish,  Christ  Church,  at  Lonsdale,  Rhode 
Island.  His  pastorate  continued  until  August  10,  1871,  and 
during  the  remainder  of  that  and  the  following  year  he  was 
Assistant  Pastor  and  Superintendent  at  St.  Luke's  Hospital, 
New  York,  of  which  Rev.  Dr.  Muhlenberg  was  chief. 

A  somewhat  remarkable  episode  in  Sever's  life  then  fol- 
lowed. His  churchmanship  was  always  of  the  low  or  evan- 
gelical school,  and  its  emphasis  was  laid  upon  personal  re- 
ligious experiences.  The  High  Church  proclivities  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  its  restrictive  legislation,  had  become 
increasingly  distasteful  to  him,  and  he  found  himself  out  of 
sympathy  with  its  prevailing  modes  of  thought  and  action; 
it  therefore  seemed  desirable  to  work  where  he  could  do  so 
more  heartily.  He  regarded  the  contemplated  change  as  not 
one  of  doctrine,  but  simply  of  relation. 

In  April,  1873,  he  was  received  in  its  full  connection  by 
the  New  York  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  his  first  appointment  was  in  Lee,  Berkshire  County, 
Massachusetts. 

His  pastorates  in  the  Methodist  Church  were  in  the  years 
1875-77,  at  tne  Jane  Street  Church,  New  York;  in  1878-81, 
at  the  Cannon  Street  (now  Trinity)  'Church,  Poughkeepsie, 
New  York;  in  1882,  at  Fishkill  on  the  Hudson. 

After  a  ten  years'  experience  of  Methodism  and  its  work- 
ings, and  having  found  it  by  no  means  an  ideal  system,  he 
returned  to  his  first  love,  the  Episcopal  Church.  The  canons 
required  him  to  pass  one  year  as  a  layman  before  resuming 
his  functions  as  a  priest.  After  this  period  of  probation 
he  became  Rector  of  Emmanuel  Church,  Manville,  Rhode 
Island,  on  September  i,  1885.  He  resigned  that  position, 
on  March  28,  1887,  to  ta^e  a  similar  one  in  St.  George's 
Parish,  Central  Falls,  Rhode  Island,  which  he  held  for  five 
years,  and  where  he  was  last  settled. 

While  there  he  received,  June  16,  1890,  the  honorary  de- 

234 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


gree  of  S.T.D.  from  Griswold  College,  Iowa,  in  "  recogni- 
tion of  his  good  scholarship,  sound  churchmanship,  and  de- 
votion to  the  work  of  the  ministry." 

Among  the  resolutions  passed  at  a  meeting  of  the  Wardens 
and  Vestry  of  St.  George's  Church,  held  December  7,  1891, 
appear  the  following: 

"  Resolved  that  for  his  ministering  to  the  temporal  wants 
of  the  poor  and  the  spiritual  needs  of  all;  for  the  tender 
solicitude  and  earnest  sympathy  which  have  always  brought 
him  to  the  bedside  of  the  sick  and  dying;  for  his  improving 
the  condition  of  the  church  and  rectory,  and  for  his  exertions 
in  lessening  the  debt  on  the  rectory;  for  his  financial  aid 
from  time  to  time,  as  necessity  called  for  it  —  the  members 
of  this  parish  owe  him  a  debt  which  they  never  can  repay." 

After  his  resignation  he  did  not  give  up  work,  but  con- 
tinued to  preach,  on  Sundays  and  sometimes  on  week  days, 
during  the  following  year. 

Sever  seems  to  have  written  but  little.  Some  of  his  com- 
munications to  a  paper  published  by  Dr.  Charles  Cullis,  called 
"  Times  of  Refreshing,"  were  issued  later  by  the  Willard 
Tract  Repository  as  little  tracts.  He  disclaimed  any  preten- 
sion to  strictly  literary  merit  as  a  preacher  or  writer,  and 
yet  the  transparent  sincerity  of  his  thought  lent  a  charm  to 
his  style,  in  which  there  was  nothing  labored. 

He  was  indeed  one  of  the  most  sincere  and  unaffected  of 
clergymen,  and  his  religion  was  that  of  a  man  who  loves  his 
fellowmen,  his  aim  being  to  inspire  them  with  hope  and 
encouragement. 

Sever's  later  years  were  spent  at  the  home  of  a  physician 
at  Pawtucket,  Rhode  Island,  and  many  of  his  old  parishioners 
sought  his  sympathy  and  service  when  death  came  to  their 
homes. 

In  September,  1893,  he  began  to  feel  an  indisposition  — 
the  precursor  of  the  serious  malady,  cancer  of  the  stomach, 
which  terminated  his  life,  where  he  was  boarding  for  a  time 
in  the  house  of  an  old  parishioner,  at  Lee,  on  July  15,  1894. 

Sever  was  never  married. 


235 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


SAMUEL    SAVAGE    SHAW, 

Youngest  son  of  LEMUEL  SHAW  (H.  U.  1800)  and  HOPE 
SAVAGE  SHAW,  was  born  at  Boston,  October  16,  1833. 

His  education  began  at  an  early  age  under  the  instruction, 
first  of  a  Miss  Guliker  at  the  corner  of  Buttolph  (now  Ander- 
son) and  Myrtle  Streets,  then  of  a  Miss  Paddock,  over  an 
apothecary  shop  at  the  corner  of  Hancock  and  Derne  Streets 
—  a  site  which  has  since  been  twice  built  over,  first  by  the 
granite  reservoir  and  then  by  the  present  State  House.  Mr. 
George  W.  Fowle's  Monitorial  School  was  his  next  school,  and 
from  there  he  proceeded  to  the  Boston  Latin  School,  entering 
in  1844,  taking  the  full  course  of  five  years  and  being  admitted 
at  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849. 

After  graduation  he  'passed  two  academical  years  in  the 
Harvard  Law  School,  1853-55,  and  took  the  degree  of  LL.B. 
at  the  end  of  that  time.  Another  year  was  passed  in  the  office 
of  Sidney  Bartlett,  Esq.,  a  former  partner  of  his  father,  where 
he  enjoyed  the  companionship  of  his  old  schoolfellow  and 
college  classmate  Crocker,  and  he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar 
April  i,  1856,  on  examination,  at  the  same  time  with  Crocker. 

On  April  23  following  he  sailed  from  Boston  for  Liverpool 
in  the  Cunard  steamer  "  Cambria "  and  reached  that  port 
May  7.  In  company  with  a  rather  large  party  of  well-known 
Bostonians  he  proceeded  to  London  next  day,  and  having 
good  letters  passed  an  enjoyable  seven  weeks,  sight-seeing  and 
dining.  While  there  he  met  his  classmates  Briggs,  who  had 
come  out  as  ship's  doctor  in  an  emigrant  ship,  Lyman,  and 
Dwight,  also  James  Savage  (H.  U.  1854),  D wight  and  Sav- 
age both  afterwards  distinguished  for  their  services  in  the  2d 
Regiment  and  lamented  deaths  in  the  Civil  War.  He  left 
London  for  a  tour  in  England  and  Scotland  on  June  27,  met 
Dwight  and  Savage  on  their  way  home,  at  Oxford,  parted 
from  them  in  Wales,  returned  to  London  July  18,  and  took 
passage  in  a  steamer  from  London  to  Antwerp  on  the  29th,  ar- 
riving there  next  day.  Belgium,  Holland,  and  the  Rhine  and 
Southern  Germany  were  visited  without  undue  haste,  and  on 
August  23  Shaw  arrived  at  Berlin,  where  he  settled  down  in 
a  German  boarding-house  and  made  an  assiduous  study  of  the 

236 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


German  language  with  fair  success.  The  attractions  of  the 
royal  theatre,  opera,  and  ballet  were  not  neglected.  Perhaps 
the  most  memorable  incident  of  his  residence  at  Berlin  was 
the  visit  of  the  illustrious  Alexander  von  Humboldt  to  Mr. 
George  Ticknor,  at  which  he  was  most  kindly  invited  to  be 
present.  On  the  ist  of  January,  1857,  he  left  Berlin  for  Dres- 
den. A  winter  journey  through  Germany,  with  stops  at 
Dresden,  Munich,  and  Vienna,  where  he  found  his  classmate 
White,  then  a  medical  student,  brought  him  to  Venice  on  Feb- 
ruary 14,  where  spring  was  opening.  Crossing  the  North  of 
Italy  to  Genoa,  he  went  by  water  to  Naples  and  passed  there 
a  delightful  fortnight.  In  the  absence  of  any  railway  he 
posted  in  the  company  of  friends  to  Rome,  in  the  old  style, 
postilion,  relays  of  horses,  etc.  At  Rome  he  was  fortunate  in 
being  able  to  see  all  the  ceremonies  of  Holy  Week  and  Easter, 
in  which  Pope  Pius  IX  took  a  conspicuous  part,  contrary  to 
the  practice  of  his  successors.  A  five  days'  journey  via  Assisi 
and  Perugia  with  a  vetturino  brought  him  to  Florence. 
Thence  he  proceeded  by  steamer  from  Leghorn  to  Marseilles 
and  arrived  at  Paris  May  9.  Here  he  spent  a  little  over  three 
months  and  endeavored  to  improve  his  time  in  the  study  of 
the  French  language.  In  August  and  September  he  made  a 
satisfactory  tour  in  Switzerland,  returned  to  London  Septem- 
ber 24,  and  sailed  for  home  October  10  in  the  "  Europa." 

In  1858  he  began  professional  life  by  opening  a  small  office 
at  47  State  Street.  On  November  25,  1859,  he  moved  to  24 
Old  State  House  and  became  a  sort  of  student  assistant  in 
the  office  of  Messrs.  Dana  &  Cobb,  where  he  remained  until 
October  12,  1860,  and  then  moved  to  16  Court  Street.  Here 
he  spent  eight  years,  the  office  being  shared  for  a  large  part 
of  the  time  by  Edward  Ellerton  Pratt,  Esq.  (H.  U.  1852),  of 
most  happy  memory.  The  approaching  demolition  of  No.  16 
Court  Street  compelled  another  change,  and  on  September  9, 
1868,  he  followed  a  general  movement  of  lawyers  to  Pember- 
ton  Square  and  took  an  office  in  the  rear  of  No.  13.  The 
next  year,  on  December  21,  he  had  and  seized  the  opportunity 
of  joining  his  friends  Messrs.  U.  H.  and  G.  G.  Crocker  and 
Henry  H.  Sprague  and  sharing  the  commodious  second  floor 

237 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


of  No.  14  Pemberton  Square.  The  demolishers  beginning  to 
threaten  again  in  order  to  clear  the  ground  for  the  new  Court 
House,  the  Crockers,  Sprague,  and  Shaw  left  Pemberton 
Square  for  19  Milk  Street,  on  January  15,  1886.  This  was 
Shaw's  last  local  business  change,  and  here  he  spent  the  last 
ten  years  of  his  business  life.  The  whole  of  that  business  life 
was  very  quiet  and  uneventful,  consisting,  with  some  convey- 
ancing, mostly  in  the  care  of  property  and  the  settlement  of 
estates  —  executorships  and  trusteeships,  amongst  others  those 
under  wills  of  Henry  P.  Kidder,  M.  Day  Kimball,  and  Wil- 
liam Sturgis.  It  was  varied  by  six  visits  to  Europe  in  1875, 
1880,  1887,  1889,  1890,  and  1892.  In  the  autumn  of  1896 
Shaw  gave  up  his  business  and  set  out  on  more  serious  travel- 
ling, and  spent  six  months  in  a  tour  of  Egypt  and  the  Nile, 
Greece,  and  Italy.  In  the  course  of  subsequent  journeys 
begun  in  1898,  1900,  1901,  1902,  1905,  and  1906,  he  visited 
Algiers  and  North  Africa,  Sicily,  the  Holy  Land  and  Greece, 
Denmark,  Sweden  and  Russia,  France  and  Italy. 

Shaw  was  elected  Class  Secretary  at  Commencement,  1863, 
on  the  resignation  of  John  D.  Washburn.  He  has  been  Direc- 
tor of  the  Rockport  Granite  Company,  Trustee  and  Secretary 
of  the  Boston  Library  Society,  and  was  elected,  very  unex- 
pectedly, a  Resident  Member  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  in  1903.  He  was  never  married. 

WILLIAM   INSKEEP    SHREVE, 

Son  of  RALPH  H.  and  SARAH  L.  SHREVE,  was  born  April 
13,  1832,  at  Lawrence,  New  Jersey,  and  was  taken  to  Newton 
in  that  State  about  one  year  after. 

He  passed  through  numerous  private  schools  and  entered 
Harvard  as  Sophomore  in  1850.  He  was  popular  with  his 
class,  and  when  a  new  debating  club,  called  "  The  Wranglers," 
was  organized,  he  was  made  President  of  it. 

After  leaving  college  he  studied  law  with  his  cousin,  James 
Wilson,  Esq.,  of  Trenton,  and  for  a  few  years  practised  in 
that  city,  but  was  drawn  from  that  profession  by  what  seemed 
a  more  profitable  occupation,  the  manufacture  of  crockery, 
at  the  dawn  of  that  industry  which  has  grown  to  such  large 

238 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


proportions  in  Trenton.  But  his  expectations  were  not  real- 
ized and,  in  1862,  he  removed  to  Jersey  City,  and  engaged  in 
various  pursuits,  first  as  a  real  estate  broker  and  later  as  a 
stockbroker  in  Wall  Street,  New  York.  He  removed  to 
Orange,  New  Jersey,  in  1865.  His  health  was  never  robust, 
and  there  was  a  gradual  failing  which  developed  into  pro- 
nounced consumption.  He  died  at  Westfield,  New  Jersey,  on 
May  10,  1894. 

He  was  married  to  Ellen  M.  Lloyd  about  the  year  1858,  but 
had  no  children. 

EDWARD    BUTTON    SMITH, 

Only  child  of  JEROME  VAN  CROWNINSHIELD  and  ELIZA 
MARIA  (BROWN)  SMITH,  was  born  at  Boston,  December  27, 
1830.  He  spent  a  happy  childhood  at  Rains  ford  Island  in 
Boston  Harbor,  where  his  father  held  the  office  of  Port  Phy- 
sician, and  which  he  considered  the  most  delightful  place  in 
the  world. 

His  first  teacher  was  Miss  Willy.  Afterward  he  went  for 
several  years  to  the  school  of  Mr.  Kidder  of  Boston,  spent 
two  years  or  more  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  a  year  at  the 
Chauncy  Hall  School,  and  six  months  of  his  seventeenth  year 
at  Dr.  Siedhof's  German  School  in  Newton  Centre.  After 
a  long  illness  he  passed  half  a  year  at  Mr.  Brooks's  School  in 
Boston,  and  then  entered  Williams  College.  In  a  few  months 
he  left  Williams  and  began  the  study  of  medicine.  Finally 
he  entered  Harvard  College,  in  September,  1851,  as  Junior. 
On  graduation  he  resumed  his  medical  studies,  apparently 
under  the  instruction  of  his  father,  and  during  the  year  1855- 
56  as  a  student  in  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  where  he  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  M.D.  in  the  latter  year. 

After  finishing  his  medical  course  he  travelled  extensively  in 
Europe,  living  in  Paris  several  years.  On  his  return  to  the 
United  States  he  practised  medicine  for  some  time  in  New 
York,  and  afterwards  at  Boston  from  about  1883  to  the  year 
of  his  death,  1891. 

Dr.  Smith  died  very  suddenly  on  a  railway  train  en  route 
for  New  York,  July  21,  1891.  He  left  a  widow,  whose 

239 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


maiden  name  was  Mary  Sheppard,  before  marriage  a  resident 
of  New  Jersey,  but  had  no  children. 

GEORGE    SMITH 

(Whose  name  appears  in  the  catalogues  and  on  the  records 
of  /the  college  as  one  of  the  generous  benefactors  of  Har- 
vard) was  born,  February  27,  1833,  according  to  the  inscrip- 
tion cut  by  his  order  on  a  monument  erected  by  him  in  Belle- 
fontaine  Cemetery,  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  under  which  his 
remains  are  buried.  His  birthplace  is  uncertain,  and  the 
date  of  his  birth  has  been  variously  told.  He  composed  his 
own  epitaph.  He  probably  became  an  orphan  early  in  life. 
He  was  the  son  of  one  Connelly,  an  Irish  porter  in  the  em- 
ploy of  Messrs.  Smith  &  Partridge,  leading  merchants  of 
St.  Louis.  The  senior  partner  of  the  firm,  James  Smith,  a 
man  of  wealth  and  ambitions,  who  had  been  a  pioneer,  found 
himself  childless  in  advancing  years,  and,  conceiving  a  liking 
for  the  boy,  treated  him  as  a  son,  giving  him  every  possible 
advantage,  both  educational  and  social.  Mrs.  Persis  Smith, 
the  wife,  was  equally  attracted  by  him.  It  does  not  appear 
that  he  was  ever  adopted  with  legal  formality,  although  al- 
lowed to  use  the  family  name. 

He  entered  Harvard  at  the  beginning  of  the  Sophomore 
year.  When  he  arrived  at  Cambridge  in  1850,  Smith  brought 
along  with  him  the  breezy  atmosphere  of  the  prairies.  He 
was  short  and  sturdy  in  stature.  Like  Buffalo  Bill,  he  wore 
his  hair  in  long  curls  over  his  shoulders,  and  this  proved  so 
distasteful  to  the  delicate  sensibilities  of  his  fellow-students 
that  they  indulged  'themselves  in  one  of  those  little  amenities 
known  to  college  life.  Stealing  upon  his  slumbers,  they 
treated  his  hair  with  an  application  of  molasses  which  they 
followed  with  the  sand-blast,  with  the  result  that  only  a  free 
recourse  to  the  shears  could  afford  relief.  Smith  allowed 
himself  little  eccentricities  which  might  well  enough  have 
been  in  touch  with  the  conventions  of  the  West,  but  which, 
in  an  older  community,  did  not  fail  to  excite  comment.  He 
was  reported,  on  one  occasion,  to  have  served  Doctor  Walker 
with  a  written  challenge  to  fight  a  duel,  finding  the  provo- 

240 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


cation  the  Doctor  had  given  him,  in  some  matter  of  disci- 
pline, too  grave  to  pass  unnoticed  by  a  gentleman.  The  word 
opvfex,  for  a  Smith,  was  at  once  contracted  for  his  benefit 
into  Tifex,  and  as  Tifex  he  was  known  throughout  his 
college  course. 

He  was  not  long  out  of  college  before  his  relations  with 
his  benefactors  became  strained,  notwithstanding  his  large 
allowance  and  a  devotion  on  their  part  well-nigh  parental, 
and  he  now  found  himself  regarded  by  his  patrons  as  a  thorn 
in  the  flesh.  Practically  disowned,  he  was  sent  into  the 
world  to  shift  for  himself.  For  twenty-odd  years  ensuing 
he  led  the  life  of  a  vagrant,  delving  in  Western  mining- 
camps,  gambling  in  Wall  Street  bucket-shops,  "  plunging  "  in 
wheat  at  the  Chicago  grain  market,  haunting  sections  of 
Philadelphia  which  did  him  no  good.  He  made  no  friends 
and  never  seemed  to  care  for  them.  His  patron  died  in  1877. 
It  has  been  said  that  Mrs.  Smith,  desolate  in  her  widowhood, 
sought  out  the  wanderer  and  offered  to  forget  the  past.  At 
any  rate,  he  returned  to  St.  Louis  and  appealed,  not  in  vain, 
to  her  sympathy  and  to  the  memory  of  the  early  attachment 
she  had  felt  for  him. 

In  1892  he  writes  to  Crocker  that  the  crystallotype  taken 
of  him  on  leaving  Cambridge  was  the  last  likeness  taken  of 
him,  although  his  "  dear  mother  "  urged  him  for  others  often, 
and  that  "  it  will  probably  remain  so."  He  then  reiterates 
his  "  old  love  for  our  Alma  Mater!'  Mrs.  Smith  had  died 
in  February,  1891.  Until  then  he  had  maintained  a  hermit- 
like  residence  in  a  shambling  old  house,  changing  it  at  that 
time  for  a  "nice,  new  bachelor-den,"  to  visit  him  in  which 
he  invites  the  Class  Secretary,  when  writing  to  him,  in  1892, 
that  he  regretted  not  being  present  at  Commencement  that 
year  "  to  view  some  of  the  remnants  of  the  Class  of  '53 ;  — 
possibly  may  take  a  look  at  them  next  year."  His  hand- 
writing was  firm  and  clear,  and  his  forms  of  expression  in 
the  main  correct. 

This  change  of  tone  was  coincident  with  the  death  of  his 
foster-mother,  Mrs.  Persis  Smith.  She  had  made  him  heir 
to  her  husband's  fortune.  Of  course  the  offering  for  pro- 

24,1 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


bate  of  her  will  was  the  challenge  to  a  furious  contest.  There 
were  blood-relations  living,  and  they  naturally  made  them- 
selves heard.  For  ten  years  the  estate  was  the  sport  of 
bitter  litigation,  in  which  the  unpromising  beneficiary  finally 
prevailed.  « 

Smith,  in  these  years,  took  no  part  in  the  life  about  him  — 
seemed  to  have  no  interest  above  bucket-shops,  became  a 
confirmed  recluse,  violent  in  his  personal  dislikes,  suspicious, 
lacking  refined  tastes.  He  now  occupied  the  house  which  he 
had  acquired  by  will,  kept  his  window-shades  drawn,  and 
buried  himself  in  what  was  once  a  favorite  residential  quarter 
of  St.  Louis,  now  given  over  to  cheap  lodging-houses.  There, 
alone,  except  for  domestics,  he  lived  on,  sour,  cynical,  mi- 
serly, unmarried  and  unknown.  He  shared  his  table  with  a 
brood  of  cats,  and  seemed  to  have  no  human  ties  except  those 
kept  alive  by  his  dependence  on  the  lawyers  who  nursed  his 
suits.  The  Trust  Company  which  he  named  as  executor  of 
his  will  arranged  his  burial.  At  the  request  of  the  company, 
Harvard  men  were  his  pallbearers  who  had  never  seen  him 
alive.  No  clergyman  was  bidden,  because  of  a  request  found 
in  a  post  obit  letter  hastily  opened,  at  the  instance  of  the 
servants,  to  learn  the  provisions  for  his  burial  which  they 
declared  it  contained. 

But  he  was  not  friendless.  Domestics  mourned  him  sin- 
cerely, and  waifs  from  an  orphan-home,  whom  he  had  be- 
friended in  his  life,  furnished  a  chorus  to  accompany  the 
solo  singer  provided  by  the  Trust. 

He  left  the  bulk  of  his  estate  —  a  quarter  of  a  million  — 
to  Harvard  University,  to  be  applied  to  the  erection  of  three 
dormitories  which  are  to  bear  the  names  of  his  two  bene- 
factors and  himself.  The  fund  is  now  accumulating,  accord- 
ing to  the  provisions  of  his  will.  He  remembered  his  ser- 
vants, but  not  a  relative  of  the  pair  who  had  sought  to  put 
sunshine  into  his  life.  Portraits  of  these  two  are  to  be  hung, 
in  accordance  with  his  expressed  wish,  in  Memorial  Hall. 
Smith  Library,  in  the  town  of  Franklin,  New  Hampshire, 
receives  $500,  and  his  burial  lot  at  Belief ontaine  is  endowed 
to  the  amount  of  $1,000. 

242 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Readers  are  indebted  to  the  researches  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Harvard  Club  at  St.  Louis  for  most  of  what  is  known 
about  the  career  of  Smith  after  he  left  Cambridge. 

JOHN    HENRY    SULLIVAN, 

Only  son  of  JOHN  WHITING  and  MARION  (Dix)  SULLI- 
VAN, was  born  at  Dorchester,  while  his  parents,  residents  of 
Boston,  were  temporarily  living  there,  on  October  30,  1832. 
His  mother  was  a  sister  of  General  John  A.  Dix  of  Civil  War 
fame. 

When  he  was  five  years  old,  his  parents  removed  to  Cin- 
cinnati, thence  to  Virginia,  and  after  some  years  returned  to 
Boston.  His  education  was  interrupted  by  illness  and  by  acci- 
dents, amongst  others  his  being  run  over  by  a  heavy  wagon. 
He  was  twice  obliged  to  leave  the  Boston  Latin  School,  hav- 
ing been  admitted  the  second  time  in  1845. 

From  1846  to  1849  ne  was  a  pupil  of  the  Phillips  Andover 
Academy,  and  in  the  latter  year  was  admitted  as  Freshman 
at  Harvard.  During  this  period  he  passed  seven  weeks  as 
a  passenger  in  the  United  States  sloop  of  war  "  Jamestown," 
sent  to  Cork  in  1847  to  carry  supplies  to  the  starving  Irish.1 

1  EDITORIAL  NOTE.  —  Sullivan  and  Tenney  sat  together  through  college. 
Tenney  was  the  first  man  whom  the  class  was  to  lose,  dying  by  drowning, 
before  the  end  of  his  first  year  out,  on  a  voyage  from  New  York  to  San 
Francisco.  By  a  strange  coincidence  Sullivan  was  the  third  man  to  go, 
and  he  also  to  die  by  drowning,  but  in  the  treacherous  waters  of  Lake 
Michigan,  when  not  five  years  out  of  college.  Few  members  of  the  class 
left  Cambridge  with  better  promise  of  continued  life.  I  knew  Sullivan 
well  when  he  was  at  the  Latin  School  in  1845-46.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
attractive  companions  I  ever  had.  Like  Dr.  Furness,  just  deceased,  he  had 
a  genius  for  friendship.  He  lived  at  that  time  in  Bowdoin  Street  —  quite 
in  my  neighborhood  —  and  I  frequented  his  delightful  home,  drawn  there 
perhaps  especially  by  his  invitation  to  use  with  him,  in  a  vacant  room,  a 
fully  equipped,  miniature  printing-press,  upon  which  we  ran  off  many  a 
galley,  working  like  slaves  to  do  it  —  galley-slaves  if  you  will  —  together. 
In  the  recital  of  his  merits  which  found  its  way  into  the  public  press,  some 
traits  appear  which  must  not  be  forgotten.  His  gift  and  taste  for  music,  his 
lively  fancy  and  sprightly  wit,  his  unfailing  spirits  and  generous  heart,  his 
demonstrated  business  capacity,  his  sterling  qualities  and  winning  man- 
ners,—  these  made  the  unlooked-for  announcement  of  his  death,  both  in 
Milwaukee  and  in  Chicago,  startling  in  its  significance.  Flags  were  seen 
at  half-mast  in  both  places. 

243 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


After  graduation  he  studied  law  for  two  years  in  the  office 
of  Messrs.  Baker  &  Peabody  in  Concord,  New  Hampshire. 
He  then  entered  the  Law  School,  where  he  passed  a  year,  and 
soon  after  migrated  to  the  West  He  settled  first  in  Clinton, 
Iowa,  but  soon  after  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he  exchanged, 
temporarily  it  is  said,  the  practice  of  his  legal  profession  for 
a  position  in  the  Commercial  Agency  Office  of  Douglas  &  Co. 
Here  he  remained  until  the  spring  of  1858,  when  he  was  com- 
missioned to  superintend  the  Milwaukee  Branch  of  the 
Agency.  He  was  also  connected,  from  time  to  time,  as  cor- 
respondent, contributor,  and  literary  critic,  with  various  news- 
papers in  New  England  and  the  West.  Wherever  he  went  he 
made  warm  and  appreciative  friends,  both  among  business 
acquaintances  and  in  general  society. 

He  had  been  but  a  few  months  at  Milwaukee  when,  on  the 
27th  of  August,  1858,  he  and  his  friend  Jennings  went  out  for 
a  row  on  the  lake  in  the  "  Galatea,"  belonging  to  the  Galatea 
Boat  Club,  of  which  Sullivan  was  a  member.    Both  were  ac- 
complished water-men.    He  was  especially  accustomed  to  the 
management  of  a  boat,  having  had  much  practice  at  Plymouth, 
where  he  spent  his  summer  vacations.    But  a  very  heavy  sea 
and  a  gale  came  on  at  nightfall,  and  they  did  not  return.    The 
members  of  the  club  secured  a  tug-boat  and  went  in  search  of 
their  missing  friends.     When  the  news  reached  Chicago,  a 
party  started  immediately  for  Milwaukee  and  joined  in  the 
search.     Tell-tale  fragments  of  the  "  Galatea  "  were  found 
scattered  along  the  lake-shore  within  a  distance  of  six  or  seven 
miles,   easily  recognized  by  her  owners  and  builder.     Day 
after  day  the  fruitless  search  was  renewed,  and  rewards  were 
offered  to  enlist  the  services  of  the  long-shore  fishermen.    The 
body  of  his  friend  Jennings  was  at  length  found,  half  buried 
in  the  sand,  but  that  of  Sullivan  was  never  recovered.    When 
all  hope  of  his  safety  was  given  up,  the  Galatea  Boat  Club 
met  and  passed  resolutions  of  a  warmly  eulogistic  nature, 
"  deeply  and  sincerely  deploring  the  removal  from  this  life 
of  our  late  friend  and  fellow  clubman,  John  H.  Sullivan, 
whose  refined  and  scholarly  attainments,  blameless  life,  and 
generous  impulses  endeared  him,  by  ties  of  no  ordinary  re- 

244 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


gard,  to  each  and  every  member  of  our  association."     The 
Wisconsin   Bar   also  passed   resolutions   indicative   of   their 
warm  feeling  and  respect  for  Mr.  Sullivan. 
He  was  never  married. 

EDWARD    JARVIS    TENNEY, 

Son  of  JOHN  and  MARY  AUGUSTA  (BARTLETT)  TENNEY, 
was  born  at  Methuen,  Massachusetts,  September  20,  1833. 

At  the  age  of  nine  or  ten  he  was  placed  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  Rev.  Isaac  Reed,  of  Gilmanton,  New  Hampshire, 
where  he  remained  until  1848.  One  year  was  passed  at  Phil- 
lips Andover  Academy,  and  he  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman 
in  1 849.* 

His  life  after  graduation  was  destined  to  be  very  short. 
His  was  the  first  death  in  the  class.  After  occupying  himself 
with  the  settlement  of  the  estate  of  his  father,  then  recently 
deceased,  he  was  introduced  to  the  firm  of  Messrs.  Alsop  & 
Co.,  of  New  York,  and  from  them  obtained  an  agency,  or  like 
position  connected  with  their  business,  at  Valparaiso,  Chile. 
To  reach  that  place  he  received,  by  special  favor,  the  nominal 
appointment  of  captain's  clerk  on  the  steamer  "  San  Fran- 
cisco," bound  for  the  port  of  that  name  by  way  of  the  Straits 

1  EDITORIAL  NOTE. — While  in  Cambridge,  Tenney  was  the  hero  of  one 
of  the  striking  episodes  of  our  college  life.  He  was  summoned  before  the 
Faculty  for  some  irregularity  which  that  body  saw  fit  to  visit  with  suspen- 
sion, but  which  many  of  his  classmates  regarded  in  a  more  venial  light. 
Accordingly,  on  the  morning  when  his  sentence  was  to  take  effect,  a  fine 
barouche-and-four  appeared  at  the  College  Gate,  and  Tenney,  supported  by 
Dorsheimer,  both  striking  figures,  were  driven  around  the  college  grounds 
and  thence  to  Boston,  where  they  were  set  down  with  much  ceremony  at 
the  Revere  House.  The  commotion  occasioned  amongst  the  crowd  of 
guests  at  that  favorite  hostelry  by  the  unexplained  arrival  with  such  cir- 
cumstance of  two  young  and  unknown  personages,  was  only  equalled  by 
what  followed  immediately  after,  when  they  left  the  hotel,  arm  in  arm, 
and  proceeded  to  perch  themselves  upon  the  top  of  an  omnibus  headed  for 
Cambridge. 

As  the  equipage  had  left  the  College  Gate  for  Boston,  amidst  the  wild 
cheering  of  a  crowd  of  undergraduates,  President  Sparks  appeared  upon 
the  scene,  showing  a  good  deal  of  emotion,  and,  addressing  some  students 
by  name,  among  them  the  writer,  expressed  his  astonishment  and  regret 
at  finding  them  countenancing  by  their  presence  so  reprehensible  a 
performance. 

245 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


of  Magellan,  and  engaged  by  the  United  States  as  a  transport 
ship  for  the  men  and  families  of  eight  companies  of  the  3d 
Regiment,  United  States  Artillery.  She  sailed  from  New 
York  on  the  22d  of  December,  1853.  Tenney  was  assigned 
a  stateroom  on  deck  constructed  for  temporary  use.  The 
ship,  though  new,  was  leaky.  Bad  weather  was  at  once  en- 
countered, and  on  the  night  of  the  24th  a  heavy  sea  washed 
Tenney's  stateroom  overboard,  with  the  others  similarly  situ- 
ated, containing  some  hundred  occupants.  The  ship  became  a 
total  wreck,  was  with  difficulty  kept  from  sinking,  and  was 
finally  abandoned  with  the  loss  of  some  hundred  lives.  Al- 
though the  majority  of  those  on  board  were  ultimately  res- 
cued by  passing  vessels,  it  was  only  after  undergoing  extreme 
hardships  and  perils.  So  perished  one  of  our  most  hopeful 
classmates. 

Tenney  was  not  married. 

FRANCIS  WALES  VAUGHAN 

Of  Boston,  Librarian  of  the  Social  Law  Library,  was  born 
in  Hallowell,  Maine,  June  5,  1833,  son  of  CHARLES  and  MARY 
SUSAN  (ABBOT)  VAUGHAN.  His  great-grandfather,  Samuel 
Vaughan,  was  a  London  merchant  and  West  India  planter, 
whose  son  Charles,  born  in  England,  came  to  this  country  in 
1786,  was  for  some  years  a  merchant  in  Boston,  and  after- 
ward removed  to  Hallowell.  His  mother  was  a  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  Abiel  Abbot,  of  Beverly,  a  descendant  of  George 
Abbot,  of  Andover,  who  came  to  this  country  from  England 
about  1640. 

Vaughan  was  fitted  for  college  partly  at  the  Hallowell 
Academy,  partly  at  the  Hopkins  Classical  School  in  Cam- 
bridge, whither  his  father  had  removed  in  1847.  He  entered 
Harvard  College  in  1849,  anc*  graduated  in  1853. 

After  spending  a  year  in  the  Harvard  Law  School,  he  en- 
tered the  office  of  Henry  Vose,  of  Springfield,  afterward  a 
Justice  of  the  Superior  Court,  with  whom  he  remained  for 
fifteen  months.  Completing  his  studies  in  the  office  of  George 
M.  Browne,  of  Boston,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  Bar 
in  December,  1856,  and  opened  an  office  in  Boston,  but  prac- 

246 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


tised  only  a  few  months.  From  July,  1857,  to  the  winter 
of  1861-62,  he  was  employed,  as  civil-assistant  and  computer, 
by  Captain  Andrew  A.  Humphreys  and  Lieutenant  Henry  L. 
Abbot,  of  the  Corps  of  Topographical  Engineers,  U.  S.  A.,  in 
Washington,  being  engaged  upon  work  connected  with  the 
Pacific  Railroad  Surveys  and  the  so-called  Mississippi  Delta 
Survey,  and  making  up  their  elaborate  reports.  Lieutenant 
Abbot  married  his  cousin.  On  the  appointment  of  Major 
Humphreys  as  chief  topographical  engineer  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  in  1862,  he  accompanied  him  to  the  Peninsula  as 
civil-assistant,  and  remained  with  him  and  with  the  officers 
who  succeeded  him  until  1864.  Spending  two  years  in  Wash- 
ington, he  returned  to  Boston  in  1866,  and  in  January,  1870, 
was  appointed  to  the  position  of  Librarian  of  the  Social  Law 
Library,  succeeding  James  Boyle,  whose  service  of  forty 
years  had  been  terminated  by  his  sudden  death.  This  library, 
now  one  of  the  best  law-libraries  of  the  country,  was  founded 
in  1804  by  some  of  the  most  eminent  lawyers  of  that  day; 
and  its  present  membership  includes  the  leading  men  at  the 
Suffolk  Bar.  Within  the  past  twenty-five  years  the  number 
of  proprietors  and  annual  subscribers  has  increased  from  two 
hundred  and  fifty  to  eight  hundred  and  fifty,  and  the  number 
of  volumes  from  ten  thousand  to  more  than  twenty-seven 
thousand.  It  owed  much  to  the  intelligence  and  fidelity  of  its 
Librarian.  Mr.  Vaughan  never  held  office  other  than  that  of 
Librarian,  and  never  married.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Bar 
Association  of  the  City  of  Boston,  the  Boston  Library  Society, 
the  Bostonian  Society,  the  Harvard  Musical  Association,  the 
Harvard  Law  School  Association,  and  the  Colonial  Club, 
Cambridge. 

Vaughan  sailed  for  Italy  with  a  niece  on  March  14,  1908, 
intending  to  pass  several  months  in  Europe,  the  journey  hav- 
ing been  mostly  undertaken  for  the  benefit  of  her  health.  A 
day  or  two  after  their  arrival  at  Naples  and  on  an  excursion 
to  the  Island  of  Capri,  where  he  was  passing  the  night,  April 
2,  1908,  he  was  found  dead  in  his  bed.  His  funeral  and  inter- 
ment took  place  on  the  Island. 

Vaughan  was  constant  in  his  attendance  at  class  functions 

247 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


of  every  kind  and  was  always  welcome.  His  valued  service 
at  the  Law  Library  thus  nearly  equalled  the  long  official  term 
of  his  predecessor,  also  brought  to  a  close  by  sudden  death. 

DAVID    HENSHAW    WARD, 

Son  of  ANDREW  HENSHAW  and  SARAH  (HENSHAW) 
WARD,  was  born  at  Boston,  June  23,  1830.  He  was  a  great- 
grandson  of  General  Artemas  Ward  of  the  Revolution,  and 
a  nephew  of  David  Henshaw,  Secretary  of  the  Navy  and  Col- 
lector of  the  Port  of  Boston  and  Charlestown.  He  had  an 
ancestor  in  the  Boston  "  Tea  Party."  Ward's  home  in  boy- 
hood was  at  West  Newton. 

He  was  educated  at  the  Leicester  Academy,  at  the  Chauncy 
Hall  School,  and  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  where  he  entered 
in  1845  and  completed  a  four  years'  course.  He  was  averse  to 
entering  college,  having  a  preference  for  business  pursuits. 
But  he  was  admitted  at  Harvard  in  1849  as  Freshman  and 
graduated  regularly  in  1853.  Probably  no  member  of  the 
class  engaged  in  the  business  of  life  so  early  as  he,  for  on 
January  i  of  that  year  he  had  become  a  partner  with  two  of 
his  brothers,  William  and  Joseph  W.,  in  the  firm  of  Ward 
Brothers  &  Company  of  New  York,  who  were  the  financial 
agents  of  the  Rock  River  Valley  Company  of  Wisconsin. 
When  this  company  was  consolidated  with  the  Northern  Illi- 
nois, forming  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern,  Ward  returned 
to  Boston,  in  1854,  and  was  made  a  partner  in  the  firm  of 
Ward  &  Brothers,  wholesale  dealers  in  dye  stuffs  and 
chemicals. 

On  the  5th  of  July,  1855,  he  married  Julia  Frances,  daugh- 
ter of  Joseph  Noble,  of  the  firm  of  Noble,  Hammett  &  Co.  of 
New  York. 

In  1858  Ward  moved  to  Keokuk,  Iowa,  and  engaged  in  the 
business  of  mining  coal  at  Farmington,  Iowa,  but  met  with 
heavy  losses  from  the  successive  inundations  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, which  flooded  the  whole  country.  Returning  to  New 
England  in  1859,  he  negotiated  the  settlement  of  an  insol- 
vent manufacturing  concern  in  New  Hampshire,  and  thereby 
acquired  a  third  interest  in  two  woolen  mills  —  one  in  Ashue- 

24.8 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


lot,  and  the  other  at  Gilsum,  New  Hampshire  —  and,  residing 
at  Keene,  did  a  very  prosperous  business  until  May  31,  1861, 
when  the  Ashuelot  Mill  burned  down  and  left  him  penniless. 

He  then  spent  a  few  months  in  Virginia  with  the  I4th 
Massachusetts  Regiment,  taking,  by  request  of  the  Colonel, 
the  duties,  except  the  parade,  of  the  Adjutant,  who  was  ab- 
sent on  leave,  and  in  the  expectation  of  having  a  commission, 
for  which  he  applied  to  Governor  Andrew,  but  was  unsuccess- 
ful; although  the  officers  of  the  i8th  Massachusetts  elected 
him  Major,  and,  without  his  knowledge,  requested  his  com- 
mission. This  failure  he  attributed  to  the  fact  that  his  family 
had  been  prominent  Democrats.  With  the  I4th  Regiment  he 
never  had  any  official  connection. 

The  condition  of  his  wife's  health  recalled  him  to  New 
Hampshire.  The  townspeople  of  Ashuelot  offered  to  rebuild 
the  mill  and  make  Ward  a  present  of  it,  as  an  inducement  for 
him  to  stay.  Not  wishing  to  be  under  obligations,  he  rebuilt 
the  mill  with  borrowed  money  which  a  successful  business  en- 
abled him  to  pay  off.  He  was  exempted  from  taxation  for  ten 
years,  and  the  property  was  sold  in  1867,  at  a  price  which 
warranted  the  leisure  spent  in  Europe  in  1867  and  1868. 

In  September  of  the  latter  year  Ward  returned  to  Boston, 
took  a  house  on  Boylston  Street,  and  resumed  manufacturing 
at  Ashuelot,  having  repurchased  the  property,  in  partnership 
with  Hunt,  Tillinghast  &  Co.  of  New  York.  At  about  this 
time  his  wife's  health  began  to  fail,  and  a  visit  to  the  South 
every  winter  became  imperative,  this  resulting  in  his  taking 
up  a  residence  in  California.  In  1870  he  closed  his  business 
in  New  Hampshire,  sold  his  house  in  Boston,  and  moved  to 
Newport,  Rhode  Island,  and  for  three  years  passed  his  sum- 
mers in  that  city  and  his  winters  in  Southern  climates.  In 
1873  he  changed  his  residence  from  Newport  to  Oakland, 
California,  which  became  his  home  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

For  the  next  five  years  Ward  was  engaged  in  the  manage- 
ment of  important  trusts,  including  that  of  the  Shafter  and 
Marvin  estates,  to  which  he  added,  in  1879,  the  business  in 
San  Francisco  of  the  Syndicate  of  Contractors  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad  in  British  Columbia. 

249 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


This  involved  the  supervision  of  accounts,  purchase  and  ship- 
ping of  supplies  and  machinery,  hiring  and  forwarding  of  la- 
borers for  the  Onderdonk  Contracts,  so  called,  in  the  interest 
of  Mr.  Darius  Ogden  Mills,  and  in  that  interest  going  twice 
to  China,  in  1880  and  1881.  The  second  time,  he  had  eight 
ships  and  six  steamers  under  charter  and  sent  five  thousand 
men  to  British  Columbia  and  eleven  hundred  to  San  Francisco. 
Ward  had  no  personal  interest  in  the  Contracts.  He  succeeded 
in  all  that  was  undertaken,  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  the  parties 
interested. 

During  the  continuance  of  the  railroad  business  his  wife 
died,  on  November  12,  1880,  after  a  long  and  painful  illness. 
He  married  again,  on  November  19,  1881,  Sarah  Har- 
wood  Babcock,  daughter  of  Rear  Admiral  Andrew  A. 
Harwood  and  widow  of  Dr.  Heman  P.  Babcock.  Her  father, 
through  the  family  of  Bache,  was  a  descendant  of  Benjamin 
Franklin. 

In  1883  and  1884  Ward  gave  up  the  business  of  the  rail- 
road, and  took  the  Vice-Presidency  and  general  management 
of  the  Judson  Manufacturing  Company,  a  large  concern  with 
rolling  mills,  foundry  and  machine  shops,  engaged  in  the  man- 
ufacturing of  bar-irons,  tracks  and  bolts,  and  iron  and  combi- 
nation highway  and  railroad  bridges.  His  connection  with 
this  company  lasted  until  1889,  when  he  was  for  a  year  out 
of  business. 

In  1890  he  became  General  Manager  of  the  Notoma  Vine- 
yard Company  and  had  charge  of  a  vineyard  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred acres  in  connection  with  a  farm  of  one  thousand  acres, 
the  products  being  exclusively  brandy,  which  mostly  went  to 
Germany.  He  was  also,  in  1891,  General  Manager  for  the 
American  Concentrated  Mast  Company.  He  resigned  his 
office  in  the  Vineyard  Company  on  April  10,  1905,  and  finally 
retired  from  business. 

In  addition  to  his  management  of  private  trusts  Ward  was, 
from  1874  to  1876,  Director  of  the  Union  Savings  Bank  of 
Oakland;  from  1878  to  1894,  of  the  Union  National  Bank; 
in  1879  and  1880,  Member  of  the  Board  of  Education  and 
Chairman  of  the  Finance  and  Judiciary  Committee. 

250 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


He  was  a  member  of  the  University  Club  and  Harvard  Club 
of  San  Francisco  and  President  of  the  latter  in  1889. 

Ward  died  at  Oakland,  of  a  distressing  malady,  on  May  29, 
1906.  He  never  had  children. 

In  all  the  vicissitudes  of  his  business  life,  Ward's  note  was 
never  protested;  all  debts  were  paid  in  full.  He  never  tres- 
passed upon  trust  funds  nor  used  them  for  his  own  benefit. 
What  he  lost  and  gave  away  was  his  own,  and  it  was  said  of 
him  that  "  he  has  handled  millions  belonging  to  others  and  is 
poor." 

GEORGE    SMITH    WARDWELL, 

Son  of  WILLIAM  TAYLOR  and  MARY  (HA WES)  WARD- 
WELL,  was  born  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  August  22,  1829. 

Educated  primarily  in  the  infant  schools  of  Mrs.  Greene 
and  Mr.  Aldrich,  at  Providence,  changes  in  the  family  resi- 
dence carried  him,  at  the  age  of  seven,  to  Niles,  Berrien 
County,  Michigan,  and  three  years  afterwards  to  Albion,  Erie 
County,  Pennsylvania.  In  Michigan  his  opportunities  for  pur- 
suing study  were  small,  and  it  was  not  until  after  his  settle- 
ment in  Pennsylvania  that  he  entered  earnestly  upon  the 
studies  required  for  admission  to  college. 

He  was  admitted  to  Allegheny  College,  Meadville,  as 
Sophomore  in  1848,  and  left  it  in  his  Senior  year  in  1851, 
when  he  was  admitted  to  Harvard  in  the  first  term  of  the 
academic  year  1851-52.  On  graduation  in  1853  his  Com- 
mencement part  was  a  disquisition  —  "  English  Imitations  of 
the  Greek  Drama.'* 

He  entered  the  Harvard  Law  School  immediately  after,  and 
there  took  the  degree  of  LL.B.  in  1855.  He  continued  his 
studies  at  Buffalo,  New  York,  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  No- 
vember 10,  1856,  and  made  that  city  his  residence  for  the 
rest  of  his  life.  Besides  being  actively  engaged  in  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  he  filled  several  municipal  offices.  He 
was  City  Attorney  during  the  years  1866  and  1867,  and  City 
Clerk  during  the  years  1869  and  1870,  and  Attorney  to  the 
Buffalo  Board  of  Police  for  ten  years  under  an  old  organiza- 
tion known  as  the  Niagara  Frontier  Police.  The  work  of  his 

251 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


life  in  which  he  felt  the  most  pride  was  that  of  building  the 
City  and  County  Hall,  and  the  Jail,  of  Erie  County.  He  was 
appointed  a  Commissioner  for  that  work  in  1872,  and  was 
elected  Chairman  of  the  Commission  in  1873.  The  corner- 
stone of  the  City  and  County  Hall  was  laid  in  1872,  and  the 
building  dedicated  in  1876.  In  the  latter  year  the  power  of  the 
commission  was  extended  to  the  building  of  the  Jail,  which 
was  completed  within  two  years.  It  has  been  claimed  that 
these  are  the  only  public  buildings  in  America  that  were 
finished  within  the  estimated  cost,  which  was  a  million  and  a 
half. 

On  June  4,  1880,  Ward  well  was  appointed  one  of  the  two 
judges  of  the  Municipal  Court  of  Buffalo.  The  Act  organiz- 
ing the  Court  provided  for  the  appointment  by  the  Mayor, 
with  the  consent  of  the  Council,  of  two  judges  for  the  terms 
of  six  and  five  years  respectively  from  January  i,  1881,  but  as 
they  were  to  assume  duty  immediately  it  practically  gave  them 
terms  of  six  and  a  half,  and  five  and  a  half  years  respectively. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  term  they  were  to  be  elected  by  popular 
vote.  Wardwell  was  elected  for  a  second  term  of  six  years, 
beginning  January  I,  1887.  At  its  expiration,  in  1893,  ne 
formed  a  partnership  with  Otto  W.  Volger  and  with  his  son 
George  T.  Wardwell,  which  lasted  until  his  death. 

He  was  appointed  Professor  of  Torts  in  the  Buffalo  Law 
School  in  1887,  and  held  the  position  until  1895.  He  was 
Treasurer  of  the  Buffalo  General  Hospital  from  1858  to  1861. 
He  was  the  oldest  member  of  the  Buffalo  Harvard  Associa- 
tion, and  the  oldest  Harvard  man  in  the  University  Club. 

Judge  George  A.  Lewis,  his  associate  on  the  Bench  for  two 
terms,  said  of  him :  "  In  his  relations  with  his  colleagues  and 
with  the  employees  of  the  Court  he  showed  a  never  failing 
courtesy.  His  fine,  ruddy  complexion  and  his  snow-white 
hair  and  beard,  added  to  his  gracious  dignity,  made  him  a  dis- 
tinguished figure  on  the  Bench.  He  was  a  man  who  thought 
more  of  the  things  of  the  mind,  of  the  spirit,  than  he  did  of 
accumulating  wealth.  There  was  not  a  streak  of  greed  in  his 
whole  make-up.  He  was  a  man  peculiarly  domestic  and  retir- 
ing. He  loved  to  spend  his  evenings  among  his  books,  history 

252 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


perhaps  finding  special  favor  with  him.  Many  a  time  have  I 
known  him  to  come  down  to  the  Bench,  having  sat  up  all  night 
to  read  some  book  in  which  he  had  become  absorbed." 

Wardwell  was  married,  June  9,  1863,  to  Mary  E.,  daughter 
of  Hosea  William  and  Margaretta  Ruden  Townsend,  of  Buf- 
falo, who  survived  him.  Their  children  were :  George  Town- 
send,  born  August  28,  1864,  died  August  6,  1898;  Mary  Mar- 
garetta, born  May  5,  1866;  Frank  Chandler,  born  June  10, 
1868;  William  Henry,  born  June  8,  1872;  Charles  Uzal,  born 
July  i,  1874;  Edward  Townsend,  born  August  12,  1876, 
died  October  16,  1880. 

Wardwell  died  October  18,  1895,  at  Buffalo,  where  he  was 
very  much  esteemed.  The  Courts  adjourned  in  his  honor. 

JOHN    DAVIS    WASHBURN, 

Eldest  child  of  JOHN  MARSHALL  and  of  HARRIET  WEB- 
STER WASHBURN,  the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  David  Kimball, 
was  born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  March  27,  1833.  In  that 
year  his  parents  removed  to  Lancaster  in  Worcester  County. 
In  1847-48  he  attended  the  Partridge  Academy  in  Duxbury, 
then  under  the  charge  of  James  Ritchie,  and  afterwards  the 
Lancaster  Academy  until  the  summer  of  1849. 

Entering  Harvard  College  in  the  year  last  named,  he  passed 
through  the  regular  course  with  creditable  rank  and  great 
popularity.  Upon  leaving  college  he  drifted  about  for  a  while, 
seemingly,  as  in  the  case  of  most  of  us,  in  some  doubt  as 
to  an  occupation.  But  ultimately  he  took  up  the  study  of 
the  law,  passed  a  term  in  the  Dane  Law  School,  and  then 
sundry  brief  periods  in  the  offices  of  Emory  Washburn  and 
George  Frisbie  Hoar,  taking  his  LL.B.  at  Harvard  in  1856. 
He  became  a  specialist  in  the  Law  of  Insurance,  and  was 
widely  known  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  the  insurance  world. 

His  life  seemed  to  arrange  itself  in  three  periods:  first, 
some  years  of  strictly  business  occupation;  then  a  term  of 
local  politics  joined  with  business;  and  lastly,  a  career  of 
public  service  followed  by  ten  years  of  helplessness  and  wan- 
ing powers. 

Between  1866  and  his  appointment  to  Berne,  he  had  been 

253 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Chief  of  Staff  to  Governor  Bullock;  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  from  1876  to  1879,  of  the  State 
Senate  in  1884.  He  was  a  Trustee  of  the  Worcester  Lunatic 
Hospital  for  ten  years,  a  Trustee  of  the  Massachusetts  School 
for  the  Feeble  'Minded,  for  eighteen  years  a  Director  in  the 
Worcester  County  Savings  Bank  and  one  of  its  Vice-Presi- 
dents, and  since  1862  a  Director  of  the  Merchants'  and 
Farmers'  Insurance  Company,  in  the  Presidency  of  which,  in 
1883,  he  succeeded  Isaac  Davis.  He  was  a  member  and  Sec- 
retary of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  and  was  a  resi- 
dent member  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  From 
1889  to  1892  he  was  United  States  Minister  to  the  Swiss 
Republic.  He  then  resigned  and  came  home  to  Worcester, 
incapable  of  further  continuous  effort.  After  a  protracted 
period  of  helplessness  his  death  occurred  at  Worcester,  April 

4,  1903- 

Washburn's  remains  were  cremated  at  'Boston  and  buried 
at  Lancaster.  A  large  body  of  insurance  men  from  Boston, 
from  Hartford  and  from  New  York  were  in  attendance  at 
his  funeral.  There  were  delegates  from  the  Loyal  Legion, 
from  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  from  the  Worcester 
County  Institution  for  Savings,  Trustees  of  the  Worcester 
Hospital,  Vestrymen  of  All  Saints',  and  a  delegation  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  The  Honorable  Stephen 
Salisbury  and  his  classmate,  Weld,  were  among  the  pall- 
bearers. The  Worcester  Board  of  Underwriters,  whose  con- 
stitution he  had  drafted,  pronounced  him  "  A  true  gentleman 
of  the  old  school."  The  Protective  Department,  of  which  he 
was  a  Director  from  its  organization,  put  on  record  this 
tribute :  "  We  recall  his  genial  spirit ;  his  willingness  to  help 
younger  men  in  their  difficulties;  his  cheering  word;  his 
keen  insight  into  perplexing  problems,  and  the  spirit  of  en- 
thusiasm and  the  nobility  of  character  with  which  he  ever 
endeavored  to  ennoble  the  Underwriting  profession  in  this 
City  and  Commonwealth.  Through  more  than  forty  years  of 
activity  his  associates  recall  only  inspiring  memories  of  a  high- 
minded,  devoted,  and  serviceable  life." 

The  Superior  Court  adjourned  its  morning  session  during 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


the  funeral.  All  the  insurance  offices  in  Worcester  closed  at 
noon.  Tributes  were  not  lacking  from  high  sources.  The 
Honorable  Stephen  Salisbury,  President  of  the  American  An- 
tiquarian Society,  addressed  that  body  in  these  words: 

"  His  services  to  the  society  have  been  important  and  long 
continued,  and  our  proceedings  have  been  much  enriched  and 
illuminated  by  his  facile  and  eloquent  contributions.  Six 
reports  of  the  Council  were  made  by  Mr.  Washburn  while 
acting  as  Recording  Secretary,  all  of  them  of  high  literary 
merit  and  expressed  with  elegance  and  grace.  The  duties 
of  Recording  Secretary  he  performed  with  impartial  fidelity 
and  scrupulous  exactness,  and  his  friendly  kindness  toward 
all  members  of  the  society  won  for  him  their  cordial 
regard. 

"  His  character,  natural  gifts,  and  attainments  endeared 
him  to  his  associates,  and  his  long  and  faithful  devotion  to 
the  society  received  the  constant  recognition  of  its  members." 

The  following  minute  was  offered  by  the  Recording  Secre- 
tary, Charles  A.  Chase: 

u  The  council  is  called  upon  to-day,  by  the  death  of  the 
Honorable  John  Davis  Washburn,  to  lament  the  loss  of  a 
brilliant  and  loyal  member.  He  rendered  to  our  society  many 
years  of  valued  service  as  Recording  Secretary,  an  office 
which  he  only  laid  down  to  enter  upon  the  service  of  the 
Nation  as  its  minister  to  a  friendly  Republic  across  the  sea. 
He  continued  to  be  a  councillor  until  the  very  last. 

"  Besides  his  faithful  clerical  service,  Mr.  Washburn  did 
considerable  literary  work  for  the  society  which  was  of  value, 
and  on  the  occasions  when  the  council  or  the  society  met  in  a 
social  way,  his  genial  spirits  and  his  brilliant  conversation 
added  greatly  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  present. 

"  While  the  ill  health  against  which  he  has  serenely  strug- 
gled during  the  past  few  years  has  prevented  him  from  as- 
sisting in  our  deliberations,  he  has  been  with  us  in  sympathy, 
and  we  most  deeply  regret  the  ending  of  so  many  years  of 
delightful  association." 

After  remarks  in  eulogy  by  Nathaniel  Paine,  Samuel  S. 
Greene,  and  Edward  L.  Davis,  the  minute  was  adopted.  The 

255 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


resident  members  of  the  society  were  invited  to  attend  the 
funeral  services. 

Washburn  was  married,  in  1868,  to  Mary,  the  daughter 
of  Charles  Putnam,  and  they  are  survived  by  one  daughter, 
Edith,  the  wife  of  Richard  Ward  Green. 

SYLVESTER    WATERHOUSE, 

Son  of  SAMUEL  H.  and  DOLLA  (KINGMAN)  WATERHOUSE, 
was  born  at  Barrington,  New  Hampshire,  September  15,  1830. 

At  the  age  of  nine  years  Waterhouse  met  with  an  accident 
which  changed  the  course  of  his  life.  On  the  6th  of  May, 
1840,  in  attempting  to  get  into  a  wagon  while  it  was  in  mo- 
tion, his  right  leg  passed  between  the  spokes  of  a  wheel  and 
was  instantly  crushed.  Amputation  was  resorted  to  just  below 
the  hip.  From  this  moment  the  plans  of  his  life  were  changed. 
Before  this  accident  he  had  been  destined  for  a  trade,  for 
his  manual  skill  and  his  ingenuity  gave  promise  of  mechanical 
and  inventive  powers,  but  afterward  his  parents  determined 
to  educate  him  for  a  profession.  In  his  fifteenth  year  he  was 
sent  to  the  Academy  at  Dover,  then  under  the  direction  of 
John  R.  Varney.  After  remaining  at  this  place  one  term  he 
was  removed  to  the  Academy  at  Rochester,  at  that  time  under 
the  instruction  of  Joseph  Drew.  A  term  of  eleven  weeks  was 
spent  at  this  institution,  and  subsequently  sixteen  weeks  under 
the  private  instruction  of  Master  Hills,  at  Dover.  He  next 
went  to  the  Gilmanton  Academy,  where  he  passed  two  terms 
under  the  tuition  of  Charles  Tenney,  a  good  instructor.  In 
1847  he  entered  Phillips  Exeter  Academy,  where  he  remained 
three  years,  receiving  honors  in  all  branches  except  that  of 
declamation. 

On  March  7,  1851,  he  entered  the  Sophomore  class  at  Dart- 
mouth College  and  remained  at  Hanover  sixteen  weeks,  but, 
preferring  to  graduate  at  Cambridge,  joined  the  Junior  class 
at  Harvard,  August  28,  1851.  Waterhouse  studied  diligently, 
took  a  Bowdoin  prize  for  Greek  prose  composition,  and  at 
Commencement  was  awarded  an  English  oration  — "  The 
Political  and  Moral  Philosophy  of  Napoleon." 

The  writer  has  not  been  able  to  learn  how  the  year  imme- 

256 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


diately  following  graduation  was  passed,  but  conjectures  that 
it  may  have  been  in  teaching  or  study  in  a  lawyer's  office  or 
both.  It  is  certain  that  he  entered  the  Harvard  Law  School 
in  September,  1854,  and  left  in  1856  in  consequence  cf  an 
appointment  to  the  Professorship  of  Latin  Language  and  Lit- 
erature in  Antioch  College,  Ohio.  He  received  his  degree  of 
LL.B.  at  Cambridge  in  1857.  In  that  year  he  was  offered  and 
accepted  a  position  as  instructor  in  Washington  University, 
St.  Louis,  and  became  in  1864  University  Professor  of  Greek. 
Four  years  later  the  chair  received  an  endowment  of  $25,000 
from  the  Messrs.  John  P.,  Maurice  D.,  and  Thomas  F.  Collier, 
"  In  grateful  recognition  by  his  former  pupils  of  the  fidelity, 
learning,  and  ability  with  which  Professor  Waterhouse  has 
for  years  discharged  his  duties."  These  duties  were  dis- 
charged until  the  close  of  the  academic  year  1900-01,  when 
he  retired  with  the  appointment  of  Professor  Emeritus  of 
Greek. 

In  addition  to  his  early  misfortune  he  met  with  a  carriage 
accident  in  1867,  by  which  he  lost  an  eye  and  suffered  a  per- 
manent lesion  of  the  spine,  the  effects  of  which  he  felt  to  the 
end  of  his  life  in  continual  pain,  which  literary  work  and  the 
nervous  exhaustion  of  the  class  room  increased. 

With  all  the  drawbacks  with  which  he  had  to  contend, 
Waterhouse  exhibited  a  prodigious  mental  activity  and  en- 
ergy, largely  outside  of  his  academic  work  and  in  matters 
wholly  foreign  to  it.  This  power  may  perhaps  be  explained 
by  the  original  vigor  of  his  constitution,  which  survived  all 
shocks.  It  is  said  that  he  was  noted  among  the  students  of 
the  University  as  one  of  the  strongest  physical  types  of  man- 
hood in  St.  Louis.  When  he  was  sixty  years  old,  he  could 
draw  his  chin  up  to  the  horizontal  bar  in  the  gymnasium. 
While  he  was  at  Harvard,  one  of  the  towers  of  Gore  Hall  was 
undergoing  repairs.  Waterhouse  found  his  way  to  the  top 
of  it,  and  stood  on  his  single  foot  swinging  his  crutch  in  the 
air.  When  he  was  about  to  appear  at  one  of  the  half-yearly 
exhibitions  to  which  his  college  rank  entitled  him,  the  class 
presented  him  with  an  artificial  leg.  But  his  remaining  limb 
had  naturally  grown  to  be  so  directly  under  his  body,  like  the 

257 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


pedestal  under  a  bust,  that  the  center  of  gravity  rested  above 
his  foot.  He  tried  his  new  acquisition  several  times  while  in 
Cambridge,  but  did  not  like  it. 

His  only  contributions  to  classical  learning  seem  to  have 
been  "  A  Course  of  Lectures  on  Grecian  Literature  and  Art," 
1863,  and  an  article  or  pamphlet  on  the  "  Study  of  Greek," 
1898,  and,  perhaps  we  may  add,  a  pamphlet  combining  things 
ancient  and  modern  entitled  "  Pliny's  Knowledge  of  Ramie," 
1896,  which,  like  many  others  of  Waterhouse's  writings,  was 
translated  into  German.  It  is  said  on  good  authority  that 
Waterhouse  was  peculiar  among  professors  of  Greek  in  be- 
lieving that  the  only  value  of  Greek  was  its  effect  on  English. 
But  the  list  of  his  productions  on  subjects  of  public  and  eco- 
nomic interest  reaches  up  into  the  hundreds. 

During  the  Civil  War  Professor  Waterhouse's  pen  was  con- 
stantly in  requisition,  as  he  was  an  active  participant  in  the 
labors  of  the  Western  Sanitary  Commission,  and  his  powerful 
arguments  in  behalf  of  the  Union  cause  were  so  serviceable 
as  to  attract  the  notice  and  win  the  approbation  of  President 
Lincoln. 

For  many  years  he  was  intimately  connected  with  the  Mis- 
souri State  Board  of  Immigration,  and,  by  official  request, 
prepared  many  papers  for  its  use.  In  1867  he  was  appointed 
by  Governor  Fletcher  a  delegate  to  the  Mississippi  River  Im- 
provement Convention,  held  in  St.  Louis,  and  in  the  same  year 
was  offered  the  position  of  Assistant  Superintendent  of  Pub- 
lic Schools  of  Missouri,  but  he  declined  that  honor.  In  1871 
he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  State  Bureau  of  Geology 
and  Mines,  and  in  the  following  year  was  elected  Secretary 
of  the  St.  Louis  Board  of  Trade.  On  retiring  from  that  posi- 
tion, being  about  to  make  a  tour  around  the  world,  he  was 
the  honored  recipient  of  a  watch  and  chain.  Of  the  years 
1872  and  1873  he  spent  about  eighteen  months  in  travel. 
While  in  China  he  observed  the  usefulness  of  ramie  as  a  textile 
fibre.  An  investigation  of  the  conditions  of  its  growth  led  him 
to  believe  that  it  could  be  raised  in  our  Gulf  States.  For  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  strenuously  urged  the  domesti- 
cation of  this  plant. 

258 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


In  1875  he  served  as  a  member  of  the  National  Railroad 
Convention,  held  in  St.  Louis,  and  of  the  Mississippi  River 
Improvement  Convention,  held  at  St.  Paul  in  1877.  He  was 
selected  by  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  latter  body  to 
prepare  a  memorial  to  Congress  the  influence  of  which  did 
much  to  enlarge  the  appropriations  for  the  necessary  river- 
improvements.  In  1878  Professor  Waterhouse  was  appointed 
United  States  Commissioner  both  to  the  Paris  Exposition,  and 
to  the  World's  Fair  which  it  was  proposed  to  hold  in  New 
York  in  1883.  He  was  appointed  delegate  in  1883  to  the 
National  Cotton  Planters'  Convention  at  Vicksburg,  Missis- 
sippi, and  in  1884  he  was  an  Honorary  Commissioner  to  the 
World's  Fair  at  New  Orleans. 

In  1884  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Crittenden  a  delegate 
to  the  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction  which 
convened  in  St.  Louis.  In  1886  he  was  appointed,  by  the 
Executive  Council  of  New  York,  Secretary,  for  the  State  of 
Missouri,  of  the  National  American  Tariff  League.  In  1887 
he  was  appointed  Commissioner  from  St.  Louis  to  the  Ameri- 
can Exposition  which  was  held  in  London.  In  1892  he  was 
chosen  by  the  St.  Louis  Merchants'  Exchange  a  delegate  to 
the  Nicaragua  Canal  Convention,  which  was  held  at  New 
Orleans  in  November  of  the  same  year.  He  was  appointed  by 
the  President  of  the  Merchants'  Exchange  a  delegate  both  to 
the  Trans-Mississippi  Congress,  held  at  Omaha,  November 
25,  1895,  and  to  the  National  Association  of  American  Manu- 
facturers, held  at  Chicago,  January  21,  1896. 

In  1897  ne  was  appointed,  by  both  the  Mayor  of  the  city  and 
the  President  of  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  to  represent  the 
municipal  and  mercantile  interests  of  St.  Louis  at  the  Trans- 
Mississippi  Commercial  Congress,  held  at  Salt  Lake  City, 
July  14-17,  1897.  I*1  J898  he  was  honored  by  appointment 
of  the  Governor  of  Missouri  as  a  Commissioner  to  the  Trans- 
Mississippi  Exposition  held  at  Omaha,  Nebraska.  In  1898 
he  was  appointed  by  the  Mayor  of  St.  Louis  a  delegate  to  the 
Good-Roads  Convention,  held  in  St.  Louis,  November  21-23, 
1898.  He  was  appointed  by  both  the  Mayor  of  St.  Louis  and 
the  President  of  the  Merchants'  Exchange  a  delegate  to  the 

259 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Trans-Mississippi  Commercial  Congress  held  at  Wichita,  Kan- 
sas, May  31,  1899,  and  to  that  held  at  Houston,  Texas,  April 
17-20,  1900. 

Before  each  of  the  conventions  of  which  he  was  a  member 
he  delivered  an  address,  and  several  of  these  were  printed 
separately  and  also  translated  into  German. 

In  1883  Waterhouse  received  the  degree  of  LL.B.  from  the 
State  University  of  Missouri,  and  in  1884  that  of  Ph.D.  from 
Dartmouth  College.  Many  benefactions  of  public  utility  were 
due  to  the  suggestions  of  Professor  Waterhouse  —  amongst 
them  the  gift  to  Washington  University  by  Stephen  Ridgely 
of  a  fund  which  has  amounted  to  more  than  $100,000; 
the  erection  of  an  Art  Gallery  Memorial  Hall,  by  Mr.  Way- 
man  Crow  as  a  monument  to  his  son,  costing  $150,000; 
the  endowment  by  Mr.  Henry  Shaw,  distinguished  as  a 
horticulturist,  of  a  professorship  of  botany  in  Washington 
University. 

His  articles  upon  the  cultivation  of  jute  in  the  United  States 
have  been  honored  with  the  highest  recognition  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States  Commissioners  of  Agriculture.  A  very 
wide  circulation,  their  translation  into  French  and  German, 
and  the  utilization  of  his  ideas  by  various  individuals  and  cor- 
porations, are  ample  proof  of  their  value. 

All  this  manifold  labor  Professor  Waterhouse  performed 
without  compensation  and  frequently  at  his  own  personal  ex- 
pense. Waterhouse  died,  on  February  12,  1902,  at  the  Mul- 
lanphy  Hospital,  St.  Louis,  exhibiting  a  stoical  courage  and 
self-possession  to  the  last.  "  I  am  getting  ready  for  the  grim 
messenger,"  he  said  to  a  newspaper  visitor  who  called  at  his 
apartments  a  short  time  before  he  was  removed  to  the  hos- 
pital. "I  have  been  warned  that  life  is  only  a  question  of 
days  and  perhaps  of  hours  for  me.  If  Providence  will  be 
kind  to  me,  as  He  always  has  been,  I  may  finish  putting 
my  papers  in  shape  for  those  who  may  find  some  amusement 
in  them." 

In  1888  he  sent  this  report  of  himself,  in  December,  to  the 
Class  Secretary: 


260 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


ST.  Louis,  December  2;th,  1888. 
SAMUEL  S.  SHAW,  Esq. 

DEAR  CLASSMATE: 

This  is  my  thirty-second  year  in  Washington  University. 
My  duties  have  been  arduous.  In  its  early  days  the  University 
was  seriously  embarrassed  by  the  want  of  an  adequate  endow- 
ment. The  work  of  a  large  faculty  devolved  upon  a  small  one. 
The  services  incident  to  the  care  of  several  departments  were  per- 
formed by  each  member  of  the  corps  of  instruction.  Now,  as  my 
professional  life  is  drawing  to  a  close,  ampler  funds  afford  relief 
and  permit  an  easier  distribution  of  labor. 

My  natural  tastes  are  strongly  practical.  The  little  leisure 
spared  by  an  exacting  profession  has  been  devoted  to  the  discus- 
sion of  industrial  topics.  The  extension  of  our  railroad  system, 
the  improvement  of  the  Mississippi  River,  the  establishment  of 
Iron  Works  in  St.  Louis,  the  culture  of  Jute  and  Ramie  in  our 
Gulf  States,  and  a  wider  diversification  of  our  domestic  industries 
are  representative  subjects  which  indicate  the  direction  of  my 
researches. 

My  health  is  not  good.  In  1867  an  accident  produced  a  concus- 
sion of  the  spine  and,  since  that  date,  there  has  never  been  a  mo- 
ment's exemption  from  pain.  Literary  work  and  the  nervous  ex- 
haustion of  the  class  room  greatly  increase  my  sufferings.  The 
distress  caused  by  mental  exertion  deters  me  from  many  under- 
takings that  are  congenial  to  my  tastes. 

In  my  uneventful  career  there  have  been  no  incidents  worthy 
of  mention. 

With  kind  regards  to  yourself  and  to  my  other  classmates, 

I  am,  very  truly  yours, 

S.  WATERHOUSE. 


And  again,  also  in  response  to  the  yearly  summons  to  the 
Class  Supper  of  1892,  Waterhouse  reported  in  these  words: 


ST..  Louis,  January  22nd,  1892. 
MR.  SAMUEL  S.  SHAW. 
DEAR  CLASSMATE: 

More  than  a  year  ago,  my  health  began  to  fail.  For  four 
months  my  illness  confined  me  to  my  bed  in  the  Hospital.  My 
sufferings  were  intense.  To  the  pains  of  disease  were  added  the 

261 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


tortures  of  a  severe  surgical  operation.  For  weeks  there  was  little 
expectation  of  my  recovery,  and  even  now  my  symptoms,  serious 
and  painful,  encourage  no  hope  of  a  full  restoration  to  health. 

As  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  attend  your  annual  dinner,  please 
accept  for  yourself,  and  convey  to  all  the  rest  of  my  classmates, 
the  kindest  greetings  and  friendliest  sentiments  of 

SYLVESTER  WATERHOUSE. 

The  following  list  is  said  to  be  representative  only,  and  not 
complete,  of  the  productions  of  his  untiring  pen : 

"An  Essay  on  the  English  Language,"  1852;  "The  Phi- 
losophy of  Dreams,"  1853;  "The  Protectorate  of  the  Holy 
Places,"  1853;  "  The  Character  of  Washington,"  1861 ;  "  The 
Death  of  President  C.  C.  Felton,  of  Harvard  University," 
1862 ;  "  Johnson  and  Macaulay,"  1863 ;  "  A  Eulogy  on  Chan- 
cellor J.  G.  Hoyt,"  pamphlet,  1863;  "  The  Dangers  of  a  Dis- 
ruption of  the  Union,  and  the  Necessity  of  a  Free  Missis- 
sippi," 1863;  "In  Union  There  Is  Strength,"  1863;  "The 
Suppression  of  the  Rebellion,"  1863;  "  A  Course  of  Lectures 
on  Grecian  Literature  and  Art,"  1863;  "Reflections  on  the 
Southern  Rebellion,"  1864;  "The  Heroines  of  the  Union," 
1864;  "The  Women  of  the  Border  States,"  1864;  "Ameri- 
can and  Grecian  Affairs,"  1864;  "Historic  Illustrations  of 
the  Effect  of  Disunion,"  1864;  "  False  Theories  of  Society," 
1864;  "British  Arrogance,"  1865;  "Address  before  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  Improvement  Convention,  held  in  St.  Louis  in 
1867,"  also  printed  in  report  of  proceedings :  "  The  Resources 
of  Missouri,"  a  series  of  articles  written  at  the  request  of  the 
State  Board  of  Immigration  and  published  first  in  the  "  New 
York  Tribune  "  and  then  in  pamphlet  form  in  1867;  "  The  Fi- 
nancial Value  of  Ideas,"  1867;  "The  St.  Louis  and  Illinois 
Bridge,"  1868;  "  St.  Louis,  the  Future  Capital  of  the  United 
States,"  in  "  Resources  of  Missouri,"  1867,  and  "  De  Bow's 
Review,"  1868;  "The  Natural  Adaptation  of  St.  Louis  to 
Iron  Manufactures,"  pamphlet,  1869;  "  Remarks  at  the  Wash- 
ington University  Banquet,  on  the  Death  of  Thomas  F.  Col- 
lier," 1869;  "The  Rochester  and  Nashua  Railroad,"  1869; 
"  Union  Stock  Yards,"  1869;  "  Speech  at  the  New  England 
Banquet,"  1869;  "The  Iron  Question,"  1870;  "Remarks 

262 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


at    the    Washington    University    Banquet,"    1870;     "Reply 
to  the  Statements  of  Honorable  William  D.  Kelly,"   1870; 
"  Speech  at  the  New  England  Banquet,"  1870;  letter  to  Gov- 
ernor B.  G.  Brown  on  "  Skilled  Labor,"  1870;  "  A  Lecture  on 
the  Advantages  of  Educated  Labor,"  pamphlet,  1872;   letter 
to  Honorable  George  S.  Bout  well,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
on  "  The  Location  of  the  New  Post  Office  in  St.  Louis,"  1872 ; 
"  Speech  in  Acknowledgment  of  the  Gift  of  a  Gold  Watch  and 
Chain  by  the  St.  Louis  Board  of  Trade,"  1872;  three  lectures 
on  "  Travels  in  Japan,"  1874;  "  Address  before  the  National 
Railroad  Convention,  held  in  St.  Louis  in  1875,"  in  report  of 
proceedings;   "The  Culture  of  Jute,"  United  States  Agricul- 
tural Report,  1876,  and  pamphlet  editions,  1876  and  1883;  an 
article  on  "The  Death  of  John  P.  Collier,"  pamphlet,  1877; 
"American  and  Foreign  Universities,"  1877;   "Memorial  to 
Congress  for  the  Improvement  of  the  Mississippi  River,"  pre- 
pared at  the  request  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Con- 
vention which  was  held  at  St.  Paul  in  1877,  pamphlet,  1877; 
"  Commercial  Suggestions,"  pamphlet,  1879;  letter  on  "  Abu- 
tilon  Avicennae  (Jute),"  Report  of  United  States  Commis- 
sioner of  Agriculture,  1879;   letter  to  Governor  Thomas  C. 
Fletcher  on  "Immigration,"  1880;    "Sketch  of  St.  Louis," 
written  for  the  United  States  Census  of  1880,  but  published 
-in  1887,  in  Volume  XIX  of  the  "  Social  Statistics  of  Cities  "; 
letter  to  President  Grant  on  "  The  International  Exhibition," 
which  was  to  be  held  in  New  York  in  1883,  1881 ;  letter  to 
Governor  T.  T.  Crittenden  on  the  same  subject,  1881 ;  an  ad- 
dress at  the  banquet  on  the  Twenty-fifth  Anniversary  of 
Washington  University,  in  report  of  proceedings,  1882;  letter 
to  Mr.  Koelkenbec  on  the  "  Culture  of  Flax  in  the  United 
States,"  New  Jersey  Bureau  of  Statistics,  1882;    letters  to 
James  Bishop  on  "  Jute,"  and  also  on  "  Flax,"  New  Jersey 
Bureau  of  Statistics,  1882;    an  article  on  "The  Culture  of 
Jute,"  1883;  "A  Tribute  to  Harvard  University,"  1883;  "A1 
Sketch  of  Jeremiah  Kingman,  of  Barrington,  New  Hamp- 
shire," in  Cunningham's  "  History  of  Phillips  Exeter  Acad- 
emy," 1883;   "Remarks  on  the  One  Hundredth  Anniversary 
of   Phillips   Exeter  Academy,"   circular  issued  by  trustees, 

263 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


1883;   "Address  to  the  National  Planters'  Convention,  held 
at  Vicksburg,  Mississippi/'  in  report  of  proceedings,   1883; 
chapters  on  the  "  Early  History  of  St.  Louis,"  in  Scharf's 
"  History  of  St.  Louis,"  1883 ;  "  A  Sketch  of  Honorable  Way- 
man  Crow,"  in  Scharf's  "  History  of  St.  Louis,"  1883;  "  The 
Parks  of  New  York  City,"  Report  of  the  Commissioner,  1884; 
"Compulsory  Education,"   1884;    "The  Industrial  Revival 
of  Mexico,"  1884,  translated  into  Spanish;   "Address  to  the 
National  Industrial  Convention,  held  at  Chicago  in  1884,"  in 
report  of  proceedings ;    "  Address  to  the  International  Asso- 
ciation of  Fairs  and  Expositions,"  1884;   "The  Boyhood  of 
Eminent  Men,"  1884;   "Address  to  the  First  National  Con- 
vention of  American  Cattlemen,  held  in  St.  Louis  in  1884," 
in  report  of  proceedings ;  "  The  Cause  of  Commercial  Depres- 
sions," 1885;  "Address  before  the  Fifth  Annual  Convention 
of  the  National  Agricultural  Association,  held  at  New  Orleans 
in  1885,"  in  report  of  proceedings ;   "  An  Obituary  Sketch  of 
Honorable  Wayman  Crow,"  1885;    "The  American  Fair  in 
London,"  1885;  "  The  Relations  of  Capital  and  Labor,"  1886, 
published  in  the  "  Labor  Problem  "of  William  E.  Barns,  and 
also  translated   into  French;    letter   to   Mr.    Godin,   Guise, 
France,  1886,  translated  into  French;    "Address  to  the  St. 
Louis  Harvard  Club  in  Commemoration  of  the  Two  Hundred 
and   Fiftieth  Anniversary  of   Harvard  University,    1886"; 
"Jute  and   Ramie,"    1887;     "American  Fibre   Industries," 
1887;  "  A  Protest  to  Congress  against  the  Proposed  Removal 
of  the  Duties  on  Imported  Jute  and  Ramie,"  1888;  "  An  Ap- 
peal to  the  People  of  his  Native  State  in  Behalf  of  St.  Louis 
as  the  Site  of  the  World's  Fair,"  pamphlet,  1889 ;  "  The  West- 
ward Movement  of  Capital,"  pamphlet,   1890;    "American 
Commerce   in    1900,"   pamphlet,    1891 ;    "  Speech   in   Com- 
memoration of  Henry  Shaw,"  Report  of  Missouri  Botanical 
Garden,    1891;     "Trip    to    Puget    Sound,"    1891;'    "The 
Mississippi  and  its  Affluents,"  pamphlet,  1892;   "An  Obitu- 
ary on  Judge  John  H.  Lightner,"  1892;   "The  Influence  of 
our  Northern  Forests  on  the  Navigation  of  the  Mississippi," 
pamphlet,  1892;   "Sketches  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stephen  Ridg- 
ley,"  pamphlet,  1892;   "An  Address  on  the  Benefits  of  the 

264 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Nicaragua  Canal/'  delivered  before  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Con- 
vention held  at  St.  Louis  in  1892,  in  report  of  proceedings  and 
separate  pamphlet;  a  series  of  twenty- four  articles  on  the 
"Early  History  and  Social  Customs  of  St.  Louis,"  1892; 
letter  to  the  State  Commissioner  of  the  Columbian  Exposition 
on  "  The  Commercial  Value  of  New  Hampshire  Scenery," 
1892;  an  address  on  "  The  Governmental  Control  of  the  Nica- 
ragua Canal,"  delivered  before  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Conven- 
tion held  at  New  Orleans  in  1892,  in  report  of  proceedings 
and  separate  pamphlet,  translated  into  German ;  "  New  St. 
Louis,"  pamphlet,  1893,  translated  into  German;  letter  to 
Mr.  E.  C.  Simmons  on  "  The  Location  of  a  Public  Museum  in 
Forest  Park,"  1893;  articles  on  the  "Removal  and  Larger 
Endowment  of  Washington  University,"  1894;  "The  Im- 
portance of  Ramie  to  the  Agricultural  Prosperity  of  our  Gulf 
States,"  pamphlet,  1894,  translated  into  German  and  Spanish; 
"  Incidents  of  an  Interview  with  Captain  Lyon,  and  the  En- 
trance of  Lieutenant  Schofield  into  Active  Service  at  the  Be- 
ginning of  our  Civil  War,"  1894;  an  address  before  the 
Nicaragua  Canal  Convention  held  at  St.  Louis  in  1894,  in 
report  of  proceedings  and  separate  pamphlet,  translated  into 
German ;  an  address  on  "  Ramie  "  before  the  Trans-Missis- 
sippi Commercial  Congress,  held  at  Omaha,  Nebraska,  in  1895, 
in  report  of  proceedings  and  separate  pamphlet,  translated  into 
German ;  an  address  on  "  The  Nicaragua  Canal,"  delivered 
before  the  National  Association  of  American  Manufacturers, 
held  at  Chicago  in  1896,  in  report  of  proceedings  and  separate 
pamphlet,  translated  into  German ;  "  Pliny's  Knowledge  of 
Ramie,"  1896,  translated  into  German;  "Report  on  the 
Operation  of  a  New  Defibrator  for  Mexican  Plants,"  1896, 
translated  into  Spanish;  three  addresses  on  "The  Nicaragua 
Canal,"  "Ramie,"  and  "Forestry,"  delivered  before  the 
Trans-Mississippi  Commercial  Congress,  held  at  Salt  Lake 
City  in  1897,  *n  report  of  proceedings  and  separate  pamphlet; 
an  address  on  "  The  Importance  of  our  Highways,"  delivered 
before  the  State  Convention  for  Public  Improvements,  held  at 
St.  Louis  in  1897,  in  report  of  proceedings;  an  address  to 
the  people  of  Missouri  on  "  The  Benefits  of  the  Omaha  Expo- 

265 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


sition,"  1898;  an  address  on  "  Good  Roads,"  before  the  State 
Convention,  held  at  St.  Louis  in  1898,  in  report  of  proceed- 
ings; "The  Study  of  Greek,"  1898;  "A  New  Method  of 
Printing,"  1898;  "  Industrial  Education  at  the  Omaha  Expo- 
sition," 1898;  "A  World's  Fair  and  a  Museum,  the  Most 
Useful  Means  of  Commemorating  the  One  Hundredth  Anni- 
versary of  the  Purchase  of  Louisiana,"  1898;  three  addresses 
on  "  Ancient  and  Modern  Canals,"  "  Ramie,"  and  "  The  Com- 
merce of  the  Far  East,"  delivered  before  the  Trans-Missis- 
sippi Commercial  Congress,  held  at  Wichita,  Kansas,  1899,  in 
report  of  proceedings  —  the  first  of  these  addresses  was  trans- 
lated into  German;  "  Usona  (the  initials  of  '  United  States  of 
North  America'),  a  More  Exact  Postal  Designation  of  our 
Country  than  U.  S.,"  1899;  an  address  on  "Trade  with  the 
Orient,"  delivered  before  the  Trans-Mississippi  Congress,  held 
at  Houston,  Texas,  in  1900,  in  report  of  proceedings,  trans- 
lated into  German;  "  The  Importance  to  St.  Louis  of  a  Deep 
Water  Channel  to  the  Gulf,"  1900;  "The  Commercial  Im- 
portance of  a  World's  Fair  to  Missouri,"  1900,  translated  into 
German ;  "  The  Benefits  which  a  Universal  Exposition  would 
Confer  upon  St.  Louis,"  1900,  translated  into  German. 
Waterhouse  was  never  married. 

AARON    DAVIS    WELD, 

Eldest  son  of  AARON  DAVIS  and  ABBY  (HARDING)  WELD, 
was  born  at  Boston,  Massachusetts,  October  8,  1831.  When 
he  was  five  years  old,  his  parents  removed  to  West  Roxbury. 

He  commenced  his  preparation  for  college  with  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Atkinson,  and,  after  passing  through  the  hands  of  six 
instructors  and  spending  one  more  year  at  the  Roxbury  Latin 
School,  then  under  the  auspices  of  H.  Q.  Butterfield,  he  en- 
tered Harvard  College  as  Freshman  in  1849. 

Immediately  after  graduating  he  entered  into  the  employ  of 
Messrs.  Atkins  &  Stedman,  dealers  in  crockery,  and  remained 
with  them  three  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time  he  went  into 
his  father's  office  as  clerk,  and  in  1859  became  a  partner  with 
his  father  under  the  firm  name  of  Aaron  D.  Weld  &  Son. 
The  business  was  a  general  brokerage  in  fibres  of  all  kinds  and 

266 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


an  importing  business  in  Russian  goods.  Subsequently  he 
went  to  London  and  secured  the  agency  of  Ker  &  Co.,  of 
Manila,  dealers  in  hemp  and  sugar.  On  the  retirement  of 
their  father,  January  i,  1867,  the  business  was  continued  by 
Weld  and  his  brother  Richard,  under  the  firm  name  of  Aaron 
D.  Weld's  Sons,  a  partnership  into  which  Weld's  son,  Bernard 
C,  and  Richard's  son,  Richard  H.,  were  afterwards  admitted. 
During  late  years  Weld  was  practically  retired  from  business, 
much  of  his  time  being  spent  in  the  care  of  his  father's  estate. 
Weld  was  a  Sinking  Fund  Commissioner  of  the  City  of  Bos- 
ton for  ten  years  from  May  i,  1886,  to  May  i,  1896;  was  a 
Director  in  the  International  Trust  Company  and  the  Boston 
Tow  Boat  Company;  and  President  of  the  Forest  Hills  Cem- 
etery Corporation  and  of  the  Avery  Chemical  Company. 

Weld  died,  February  28,  1907,  in  a  hospital  at  Riverside, 
California.  He  had  been,  for  several  previous  years,  in  the 
habit  of  spending  a  large  part  of  the  winter  in  that  State,  but 
his  journey,  this  year,  was  interrupted  by  a  severe  illness  from 
which  he  rallied  and  was  apparently  convalescing,  when  he 
suddenly  expired,  to  the  great  sorrow  of  a  large  circle  of 
friends  and  especially  of  his  surviving  classmates. 

No  man  ever  found  a  larger  share  of  the  enjoyment  of  life 

in  strong  personal  attachments  than  did  Weld.     His  friends' 

successes  and  enjoyments  he  made  his  own.    His  round,  ruddy 

i     face,  surmounted  with  a  crown  of  crisp-curling,  white  hair, 

was  a  benediction  wherever  he  appeared. 

Weld  married,  on  September  i,  1859,  Annie  Warren,  daugh- 
ter of  George  Washington  and  Mary  Spooner  Coffin,  of  Ja- 
maica Plain.  Their  children  were :  Frederic  Coffin,  born  Sep- 
tember 12,  1864  (H.  U.  1886) ;  Bernard  Coffin,  born  March 
12,  1868  (H.  U.  1889);  Helen  Coffin,  born  November  I, 
1869,  deceased;  Winthrop  Coffin,  born  December  12,  1873, 
deceased;  Phillips  Coffin,  born  December  12,  1876,  deceased. 

Weld's  widow  survives. 

JAMES    CLARKE    WHITE, 

Son  of  JAMES  PATTERSON  and  MARY  ANN  (CLARKE)' 
WHITE,  was  born  at  Belfast,  Maine,  on  July  7,  1833.  He  was 

267 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


descended  from  William  White,  who,  as  an  infant,  was  pres- 
ent in  Londonderry,  Ireland,  during  the  memorable  siege  of 
that  town  (1705)  described  by  Macaulay,  and  who  came  to 
this  country  in  1725  and  settled  in  Londonderry,  New 
Hampshire. 

He  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  his  native  town,  and  pre- 
pared for  college  at  the  Belfast  Academy,  until  fire  put  an 
untimely  end  to  the  career  of  that  excellent  institution,  and 
scattered  its  instructors,  after  which  he  drifted  from  pillar  to 
post  amongst  the  local  clergymen  who  had  schooling  enough 
to  guide  his  studies.  But  it  will  readily  be  perceived  that  he, 
one  of  the  youngest  of  the  class,  and  thus  ill-prepared,  reached 
Cambridge  a  total  stranger  having  a  good  stock  of  persistency 
to  rely  upon.  He  entered  Harvard  in  1849  as  Freshman. 
He  was  greatly  interested  in  Natural  History  during  his  last 
three  years  in  college,  and  his  commencement  part  —  a  dis- 
quisition, "  Wilson  the  Naturalist  "  —  was  much  more  appro- 
priate to  the  speaker  than  were  many  others. 

Immediately  after  leaving  college  he  began  the  study  of 
medicine  in  the  Harvard  Medical  School.  While  there  he 
received  a  Boylston  Prize  for  an  essay  on  the  subject  of  the 
"  Analysis  of  Urinary  Calculi,"  and  took  his  degree  of  M.D. 
in  1856.  The  rest  of  the  year  1856  and  the  year  1857  were 
passed  in  Europe  in  the  medical  schools  of  Vienna  and  Paris, 
chiefly  in  the  study  of  dermatology. 

In  the  year  1858  he  began  the  practice  of  medicine  at  Bos- 
ton, where  he  has  since  lived.  During  this  year  he  was  ap- 
pointed Instructor  in  Chemistry,  delivered  lectures  on  "  Para- 
sites "  in  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  became  a  member  of 
the  medical  staff  of  the  St.  Vincent's  Orphan  Asylum, 
Curator  of  Comparative  Anatomy  in  the  Boston  Natural 
History  Society,  and  received  a  second  Boylston  Prize  for 
an  essay  on  the  subject  of  "  Human  Parasites,  Animal  and 
Vegetable." 

The  record  of  Dr.  White's  subsequent  appointments  and 
occupations  arranged  chronologically  is  as  follows : 
1860.    Delegate  to  National  Committee  to  revise  the  United 
States  Pharmacopoeia. 
268 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


1861.    On  Building  Committee  of  the  Boston  Natural  History 
Society. 

1863.  Co-editorship  of  "  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour- 

nal," held  continuously  through  the  years  1863,  1864, 
1865,  and  1866. 

Chemist  to  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  and  Phy- 
sician to  Boston  Dispensary. 

1864.  University  Lecturer  on  skin  diseases  in  the  Medical 

School. 

1865.  Physician  to  out-patients  of  the  Massachusetts  General 

Hospital. 

1866.  Adjunct  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  Harvard  Medical 

School. 

1867.  Visiting  Physician  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hos- 

pital. 

1870.  Consulting  Physician  to  the  City  of  Boston,  and  Phy- 

sician to  the  Department  of  Skin  .Diseases  at  the 
Massachusetts  General  Hospital. 

1871.  Professor  of  Dermatology,  Harvard  University. 
1877.   First  President  of  the  American  Dermatological  Asso- 
ciation. 

1879.    First  Permanent  Chairman  of  the  Boston  Society  of 
Medical  Improvement. 

/88i.    Centennial  Chairman  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society. 

1883.    President  of  the  Suffolk  District  Medical  Society. 
1889.    Orator  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society.     The 
Annual    Discourse    on    "  The    Relations    of    the 
Massachusetts    Medical    Society   to   Medical    Edu- 
cation "  was  delivered  before  the  society  on  June  n, 
1890. 
Honorary  Secretary  of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural 

History. 

Vice-President  of  the  International  Congress  of  Der- 
matology at  Paris. 

1892-93.    President  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society. 
1894.    Vice-President  of  the  International  Congress  of  Der- 
matology at  London. 
269 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


1895-1905.    Vice-President  of  the  Medical  Benevolent  So- 
ciety of  Massachusetts. 

1896.  President  of  American  Dermatological  Association. 

1897.  Reporter  on  prevalence  of  leprosy  in  the  United  States, 

at  the  Lepra-Conference  at  Berlin. 

President  of  Board  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  to  out- 
patients, at  Massachusetts  General  Hospital. 

Corresponding  member  of  the  Vienna  Dermatological 
Society. 

1898.  Corresponding  member  of  the  Italian  Dermatological 

Society. 

1899.  Foreign  Honorary  Member  of  the  Dermatological  So- 

ciety of  London. 

1900.  President  de  Seance  International,  Congress  of  Derma- 

tology, at  Paris. 

1902.  Resignation  of  Professorship  of  Dermatology  in  Har- 

vard University  to  take  effect  at  end  of  academical 

year,  thus  closing  a  continuous  period  of  teaching 

of  more  than  forty  years. 

Appointed  Professor  of  Dermatology  Emeritus. 
Foreign  Honorary  Member  of  the  Wiener  Dermato- 

logische  Gesellschaft. 

1903.  Referat  of  the  Fifth  International  Dermatological  Con- 

gress at  Berlin. 

Foreign  Honorary  Member  of  the  Dermatologische 
Gesellschaft  of  Berlin. 

On  Board  of  Consulting  Physicians  of  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital. 

On  Board  to  suggest  candidates  for  the  Nobel  Prize, 
Stockholm. 

Foreign  Honorary  Member  of  the  Italian  Dermato- 
logical Society. 

1904.  Appointed  President  of  the  Sixth  International  Con- 

gress of  Dermatology,  to  meet  in  New  York  in  1907. 
1906-09.    President  Massachusetts  Medical  Benevolent  So- 
ciety. 

First  President  of  Alumni  of  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital. 

270 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


1907.    Corresponding  Member  Dermatological  Society  of  Ar- 
gentina. 
A  ward  in  Hospital  of  University  of  Cagliari  receives 

his  name. 
1911.    Member  of   Committee  to  Visit  Medical  School  of 

Harvard  University. 

The  daily  journal  kept  by  Dr.  White  during  his  four  col- 
lege years  is  published  in  Volume  XXI  of  the  Harvard  Gradu- 
ates' Magazine. 

Dr.  White  has  carried  on  an  extensive  private  practice  in 
addition  to  his  official  and  literary  labors.  His  various  ad- 
dresses, articles,  essays,  translations,  and  communications  to 
scientific  societies  amount  to  over  three  hundred  and  seventy 
in  number.  Perhaps  the  productions  most  likely  to  be  appre- 
ciated by  the  non-professional  reader,  and  most  likely  to  in- 
terest his  fellow  graduates  of  Harvard,  are  his  Introductory 
Lecture  before  the  Medical  School,  November  2,  1870,  ex- 
posing the  faults  in  the  teaching  of  that  day,  and  his  discourse 
before  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  at  their  Annual 
Meeting  in  1890  on  "  Medical  Education."  These  are  very 
business-like  documents,  in  which  no  words  are  wasted,  treating 
of  the  shortcomings  of  the  medical  education  of  the  day,  the 
Unsatisfactory  representation  which  the  medical  graduates  and 
the  medical  profession  generally  have  in  the  government  of  the 
University,  and  suggesting,  among  other  things,  an  associa- 
tion of  Medical  Alumni  similar  to  that  of  the  Alumni  of  the 
Law  School.  Dr.  White  has  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
many  of  his  reforms  carried  out.  A  compulsory  fourth  year 
at  the  Medical  School  has  been  established.  A  special  ward 
for  skin-diseases  in  connection  with  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital  has  been  founded.  A  Medical  Alumni  Association 
was  founded  at  once.  The  clinical  opportunities  of  the  Medi- 
cal School  are  in  a  way  to  be  largely  increased  when  the  School 
is  fully  domesticated  in  its  new  quarters. 

Dr.  White  was  married,  on  November  5,  1862,  to  Martha 
Anna,  daughter  of  Jonathan  Ellis,  and  she  died,  July  20,  1888. 
They  had  three  sons:  McDonald  Ellis  (H.  U.  '85),  born 
June  n,  1863;  Perrin  Ellis,  born  May  25,  1865,  died  1900; 

271 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Charles  James  (H.  U.  '90),  born  December  26,  1868,  M.D. 
1893. 

HORACE    OSCAR   WHITTEMORE, 

Son  of  AARON  E.  and  MARGARET  WILDER  (REED)  WHIT- 
TEMORE, was  born  at  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  August  17, 
1893. 

When  he  was  about  four  years  old,  his  parents  removed 
to  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  where  he  received  the  first  rudi- 
ments of  his  education.  In  1838  he  removed  to  Roxbury  and 
was  from  time  to  time  under  the  care  of  several  instructors. 
In  1845  he  entered  the  Roxbury  Latin  School,  then  taught  by 
Messrs.  Wheelwright  and  Short,  where  he  remained  three 
years  and  a  half.  In  January,  1849,  ne  again  placed  himself 
under  the  instruction  of  Mr.  Wheelwright,  and  in  July  of  the 
same  year  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman. 

After  graduation  he  occupied  himself  in  teaching,  and  from 
September,  1858,  to  July,  1860,  was  Master  of  the  High 
School  at  Braintree.  When  the  war  broke  out,  it  found  him 
Major  of  the  4th  Regiment  of  the  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Of  Whittemore's  active  service  during  the  Civil  War  he  has 
left  so  full  an  account  that  it  is  best  to  let  him  tell  the  story 
in  his  own  words.  He  says:  "  On  the  I5th  of  April,  1861,  I 
received  the  first  order  from  the  State  House  for  service  in 
the  field,  and  on  the  I7th  left  Boston  with  my  regiment,  the 
Massachusetts  4th,  for  Fortress  Monroe,  being  the  first  officer 
who  received  an  order  and  the  first  graduate  of  Harvard  in 
the  service.  We  arrived  at  our  destination  in  season  to  enable 
the  garrison  to  hold  the  fort,  and  remained  about  one  month, 
when  we  were  ordered  to  Newport  News,  Virginia,  which 
place  we  immediately  commenced  fortifying,  and  by  the  last 
of  June  we  had  constructed  a  very  strong  and  extensive  work. 
On  the  loth  of  June  I  took  part,  with  five  companies  of  my 
own  regiment,  in  the  expedition  towards  Great  Bethel,  Vir- 
ginia, which  might  have  been,  ought  to  have  been,  and  would 
have  been  successful,  if  General  Butler  who  ordered  it  had 
been  as  attentive  to  details  as  he  was  anxious  to  distinguish 
himself.  We  achieved  no  victory,  but  the  Massachusetts 

272 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


troops  engaged  were  in  the  first  battle  of  the  War.  They  did 
their  duty,  and,  when  ordered  to  retreat,  we  were  almost  in 
possession  of  the  place,  which  would  certainly  have  been  ours 
in  fifteen  minutes  more.  About  the  first  of  July  we  were 
ordered  to  Hampton,  where  we  remained  until  the  expiration 
of  the  three  months'  service,  when  we  returned  to  Boston. 

1  immediately  interested  myself  in  raising  troops  and,  on  the 

2  ist  of  February,  1862,  left  for  Ship  Island  as  Major  of  the 
3Oth  Massachusetts  Infantry.     After  due  preparations  had 
been  made,  our  expedition  sailed  for  New  Orleans.    We  found 
obstacles  in  the  shape  of  Forts  Jackson  and  Philip,  but  the 
Navy  silenced  them,  and  I  had  the  honor  to  take  possession  of 
Fort  Philip,  with  its  garrison,  armament,  and  munitions  of 
war,  with  Massachusetts  men.    From  there  we  proceeded  on 
our  way,  and  arriving  at  New  Orleans  I  marched  with  my 
regiment  into  the  city,  where  we  pitched  the  first  Union  camp 
in  LaFayette  Square.    I  was  soon  made  Acting  Chief  of  Po- 
lice, the  duties  of  which  position  I  performed  for  nearly  a 
month,  yhen  my  regiment  was  ordered  to  Baton  Rouge,  to 
prepare  for  an  expedition  to  Vicksburg,  to  which  place  we 
soon  proceeded  and  cooperated  with  Farragut's  fleet  during 
the  bombardment  in  1862.    While  here  I  had  much  hard  work 
and  little  satisfaction.     On  the  4th  of  July,  1862,  I  was  in 
command  of  600  men  on  the  Vicksburg  side  and  within  less 
than  a  thousand  yards  of  one  of  the  batteries,  engaged  in  re- 
connoitring and  making  a  plan  of  the  works.     This  expedi- 
tion, however,  resulted  in  nothing,  and,  after  the  loss  of  nearly 
half  of  the  command,  we  returned  to  Baton  Rouge  about  the 
last  of  July.    On  the  3d  of  July  we  were  attacked  by  the  enemy 
under  Breckenridge,  who  had  pursued  us  by  land  from  Vicks- 
burg.   A  brilliant  victory  rewarded  us  upon  this  occasion,  and, 
it  being  my  second  battle,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  the 
tables  turned  upon  the  Rebels,  who  fared  much  worse  than  we 
did  at  Great  Bethel.    The  division  to  which  my  regiment  was 
attached  was  never  again  attacked  in  this  Department,  al- 
though it  had  a  share  in  many  hard  fights  subsequently.    We 
passed  most  of  the  time  from  August,  1862,  until  March,  1863, 
in  recruiting  the  health  of  the  regiment,  which  had  been  nearly 

273 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


ruined  by  its  constant  exposure,  in  swamp  and  bivouac,  and 
those  comparatively  restored  took  the  field,  with  Gen.  Banks 
in  command,  and  the  reduction  of  Port  Hudson  in  view.  We 
were  present  when  Farragut  so  gallantly  passed  the  batteries 
and,  the  object  of  the  expedition  having  been  accomplished, 
we  returned  to  Baton  Rouge,  and  I  immediately  embarked 
with  my  regiment  for  a  passage  up  the  river  to  a  point  oppo- 
site Port  Hudson,  where  we  remained  for  some  time  annoying 
the  enemy  by  interrupting  his  communications  and  cutting  off 
his  supplies.  From  here  we  returned  to  Baton  Rouge  and  once 
more  prepared  for  a  move  on  Port  Hudson  which  was  des- 
tined to  be  successful.  On  the  2ist  of  May  I  opened  the  fight 
with  four  companies  of  my  regiment,  and,  with  the  aid  of  a 
battery,  we  soon  occupied  the  ground  of  the  rebels  and  found 
ourselves  within  five  miles  of  Port  Hudson.  We  were  almost 
immediately  attacked  by  the  enemy's  reinforcement,  in  front 
and  flank,  and  a  fierce  battle  ensued  which  resulted  in  our 
favor,  though  with  considerable  loss.  This  is  known  as  the 
Battle  of  Plains  Store.  From  this  time  forward  until  the  7th 
or  8th  of  July,  we  were  constantly  engaged  in  assaults  and 
skirmishes,  constantly  under  fire  until  the  reduction  of  Port 
Hudson.  We  took  a  trip  to  Donaldsonville,  where  another 
battle  occurred,  and  my  regiment  was  allowed  to  return  to  its 
camp  at  Baton  Rouge.  Here  I  found  that  my  health  required 
a  change  of  climate,  and  I  returned  to  Boston  after  nearly 
two  years  of  absence.  Within  sixty  days  I  rejoined  my  regi- 
ment and,  in  a  month  after  my  return,  was  made  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  and  placed  permanently  in  command  of  the  regiment, 
which  I  had  commanded  most  of  the  time  during  my  connection 
with  it,  and  had  always  led  in  battle,  the  Colonel  being  in  com- 
mand of  the  brigade  and  the  Lieutenant-Colonel  on  detached 
service.  I  participated  in  the  second  march  through  the  Red 
River  Country  and  had  just  returned  when  the  third  and  last 
started,  in  March,  1864.  My  regiment  had  reenlisted  and, 
while  waiting  at  New  Orleans  for  transportation,  they  parti- 
cipated in  the  ceremonies  attending  the  inauguration  of  Gov- 
ernor Hahn  and  the  return  of  Louisiana  to  the  Union.  And, 
as  they  were  the  first  to  encamp  in  the  city,  so  they  were 

274 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


among  the  first  in  the  same  square  to  witness  the  reestablish- 
ment  of  the  State,  with  officers  of  her  own  choosing,  under 
the  authority  of  the  National  Government.  On  the  iQth  of 
March  I  arrived  in  Boston,  and  on  the  2d  day  of  May  started 
on  my  return  to  New  Orleans,  where  on  the  26th  day  of  May  I 
succeeded  in  obtaining  my  discharge,  having  then  been  more 
than  three  years  in  the  service.  I  have  thus  rapidly  gone  over 
my  experience,  giving  only  the  prominent  parts.  Of  course 
I  have  been  engaged  in  many  and  varied  expeditions  and  skir- 
mishes, at  one  time  under  fire  from  the  25th  of  June  until 
the  2Oth  of  July,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  terrific  bom- 
bardment of  Vicksburg,  and  serving  the  greater  part  of  the 
time  in  the  most  unhealthy  climate  of  the  country,  where 
disease  was  our  most  deadly  foe,  and  passing  through  the 
usual  experience  of  a  soldier  in  camp  and  bivouac  —  some- 
times in  swamps  and  sometimes  on  crowded  transports  in  a 
burning  sun;  sometimes  in  command  of  a  brigade  of  infantry, 
cavalry,  and  artillery,  and  often  with  a  single  battalion  on 
outpost  duty  or  reconnoitring  expedition  —  until,  having  given 
my  full  three  years  to  my  country,  I  was  reluctantly  com- 
pelled to  return  to  my  home  and  family,  whose  care  could 
no  longer  be  allowed  to  pass  unheeded." 

On  returning  to  civil  life  Whittemore  engaged  in  the  busi- 
ness of  an  Insurance  Agent  in  Boston,  at  first  in  partnership 
with  Alfred  K.  Hills  and  later,  in  1868,  with  Edwin  B.  Dow. 
He  was  also  employed  as  Secretary  by  John  C.  Stanton  in  the 
management  of  the  affairs  of  the  Alabama  and  Chatta- 
nooga Railroad.  Towards  the  end  of  his  life  he  turned  his 
attention  to  the  study  of  the  law,  and  on  January  16,  1869, 
was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  Bar,  but  his  health  had  been 
failing  for  about  two  years,  and  he  died  on  March  30,  1871, 
at  Boston. 

He  was  married  at  Braintree,  Massachusetts,  on  Janu- 
ary 30,  1860,  to  Katharine  Wilde,  who,  as  well  as  the 
two  children  of  the  marriage,  survived  him.  They  were: 
Horace  A.,  born  September  5,  1863;  Helen  I.,  born  December 
12,  1864. 

275 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


WILLIAM    HENRY    WHITTEMORE 

Was  the  son  of  THOMAS  JEFFERSON  and  SUSANNA  FRAN- 
CES (BOARDMAN)  WHITTEMORE,  born  at  Boston,  October  10, 

1833- 

In  July,  1837,  ne  moved  with  his  father's  family  to  Cam- 
bridge, and  in  1842  entered  the  Hopkins  Classical  School, 
under  Edmund  Burke  Whitman,  where  he  remained  seven 
years  until  he  entered  the  Freshman  class  at  Harvard  in  1849. 
During  his  college  life,  in  August,  1851,  he  was  one  of  the 
passengers  on  the  steamer  "  Governor  "  when  she  struck  a 
rock  near  Owl's  Head,  in  Maine,  and  the  lives  of  those  on 
board  were  imperilled.  Part  of  the  winter  vacation  of  1851-52 
he  spent  in  Washington.  His  part  at  Commencement  was  an 
essay  on  "  The  Philosophy  of  Pope's  Essay  on  Man." 

In  his  Senior  year  his  eyesight  began  to  fail,  and  instead  of 
studying  for  the  pulpit,  as  he  had  proposed,  he  made  arrange- 
ments to  engage  in  mercantile  pursuits.  His  sight  not  im- 
proving, he  sailed  for  Rio  Janeiro  in  September  after  gradu- 
ating, and  returned  in  March  of  the  following  year.  In  the 
summer  of  1854  he  had  an  attack  of  hemorrhage  which  was 
followed  by  two  or  three  others  about  a  year  afterwards.  A 
cough  resulted,  and  he  died  at  the  residence  of  his  father  in 
Cambridge  on  February  9,  1857,  unmarried. 

PELHAM    WILLIAMS, 

Son  of  SAMUEL  KING  and  ELIZABETH  WINSLOW  (WHIT- 
MAN) WILLIAMS,  was  born  on  Fort  Hill,  Boston,  at  that  time 
the  residence  of  substantial  citizens,  August  20,  1833.  He 
was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Governor  Edward  Winslow. 

In  1839  he  was  sent  to  a  boarding-school  at  Pembroke 
which  was  under  the  charge  of  a  Quaker,  Samuel  Brown. 
From  1842  to  1844  he  was  at  the  Chauncy  Hall  School.  In 
the  latter  year  he  entered  the  Boston  Latin  School,  where  he 
took  the  five  years'  course,  and  entered  Harvard  as  Freshman 
in  1849.  He  enjoyed  college  life  but  little,  and  in  1853  bade 
farewell  to  its  "  irksome  discipline  and  restraints "  with  a 
hearty  good  will.  His  part  at  Commencement  was  an  essay, 
"  Charles  James  Fox."  His  first  intention  was  to  study  law, 

276 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


but  he  was  soon  attracted  to  the  ministry  of  the  Episcopal 
Church. 

He  was  ordained  Deacon  in  1856,  and  Priest  in  1857,  by 
Bishop  Burgess  of  Maine,  and  was  Rector  of  St.  Philip's 
Church  in  Wiscasset  in  that  State  from  1856  to  1861.  From 
that  place  he  was  called  to  the  newly  organized  parish  of  Trin- 
ity Church,  Hartford,  Connecticut,  where  he  remained  from 
1 86 1  to  1863.  While  living  in  Hartford  he  served  for  a  short 
time  as  instructor  in  Trinity  College,  and  received  the  degree 
of  A.M.  from  that  institution  in  1861.  From  1863  to  1865 
he  was  on  the  staff  of  the  Church  of  the  Advent,  Boston,  and 
from  1865  to  1866  was  Chaplain  at  Hobart  College,  Geneva, 
New  York.  In  1866  he  became  Rector  of  the  Church  of  the 
Messiah,  Boston.  He  held  this  position  until  1877,  and  while 
there  received  the  degree  of  S.T.D.  from  Columbia  College, 
New  >'ork.  After  an  interval  of  two  years,  in  which  he  held 
no  settled  office,  he  became  Rector  of  the  Church  of  St.  Barna- 
bas at  Troy,  New  York.  His  service  here  lasted  from  Sep- 
tember 21,  1879,  to  May  14,  1888.  He  held  the  office  of  Vice- 
President  of  the  Corporation  of  this  Parish  from  1896  until 
his  death.  In  a  Resolve  of  the  Corporation,  on  the  occasion 
of  this  event,  he  is  spoken  of  as  the  founder  of  the  parish,  who 
exerted  upon  the  people,  in  the  exercise  of  his  priestly  and 
pastoral  offices,  a  gracious  influence,  for  which  they  hold  him 
in  thankful  and  loving  remembrance. 

Besides  the  work  mentioned,  he  served  for  short  periods  at 
St.  Stephen's  Church,  Brooklyn,  New  York;  at  St.  John's, 
New  Brunswick;  at  St.  Luke's,  Seaford,  Delaware;  at  Trin- 
ity Memorial  Church,  Denver,  Colorado.  But  after  1888  his 
only  service  of  any  length  was  that  of  Chaplain  to  the  House 
of  Mercy  at  Inwood-on-the-Hudson,  at  the  upper  end  of  New 
York  City,  —  a  home  for  fallen  women.  Here  a  Daily  Cele- 
bration, Daily  Evensong,  Matins  and  a  Sermon  on  Sunday 
were  steadily  maintained.  His  chaplaincy  continued  from 
October,  1899,  to  June>  I9°3-  For  the  rest  of  his  life  Wil- 
liams assisted  in  the  work  of  the  Church  wherever  work  could 
be  found. 

At  one  period  of  his  life  Williams  lived  and  officiated  in 

277 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


England  and  attended  lectures  at  one  of  the  Universities,  but 
the  particulars  are  not  at  hand.  He  never  favored  the  Secre- 
tary with  any  complete  account  of  his  life.  A  memorandum 
found  among  his  papers  may  have  been  intended  for  this  use. 

Although,  as  has  been  said,  he  looked  upon  his  college  life 
as  a  weariness  of  the  flesh,  Williams's  relations  with  his  class- 
mates were  most  cordial,  and  he  attended  class  meetings  when- 
ever his  engagements,  which  were  constant,  would  permit. 
He  had  no  doubts  as  to  what  he  was  called  on  to  do,  and  he 
did  it  with  persistent  energy. 

From  the  beginning  of  his  career  Williams  threw  himself 
heartily  and  enthusiastically  into  the  "  High  Church "  or 
"  Catholic "  movement  in  the  English  Episcopal  Church. 
Seldom  have  religious  convictions  been  more  distinctly  and 
decidedly  expressed  than  in  the  words  used  by  him  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Massachusetts  Church  Union  in  Boston,  when  he 
is  reported  as  saying :  "  Adaptation  of  religion  to  the  times, 
which  we  hear  so  much  about  today,  is  a  fallacy  through  and 
through  and  through.  There  is  no  such  word  as  toleration. 
Theology  is  the  most  sacred  of  all  Sciences,  and  the  most 
exact.  I  should  not  be  surprised  to  wake  up  some  morning 
and  find  that  two  and  two  made  eleven  and  three  quarters, 
but  I  should  be  surprised  to  find  that  one  jot  or  one  tittle  of 
the  Nicene  Creed  was  in  the  least  wrong."  The  complete  self- 
consecration  which  Williams  not  only  preached  but  practised, 
appeared  in  what  he  told  a  classmate  whom  he  asked,  on  some 
public  day  at  Cambridge,  to  show  him  how  and  when  he  could 
reach  a  point  not  remote,  by  public  conveyance.  After  giving 
him  the  direction  sought,  his  friend  added,  "  You  will  find 
all  that  in  the  papers."  "  But,"  said  Williams,  "  I  never  look 
at  them."  "  Don't  you  feel  under  any  obligation,"  his  friend 
rejoined,  "  to  know  what  is  going  on  amongst  the  generation 
you  are  pledged  to  serve  ?  "  "  By  no  means !  "  retorted  Wil- 
liams. "  The  truths  of  the  Church  are  the  same  in  all  ages. 
One  has  only  to  study  them,  and  everything  becomes  plain." 

Williams  died  of  pneumonia,  at  Greenbush,  a  village  of 
Scituate,  Massachusetts,  where  he  had  an  ancestral  estate,  on 
May  12,  1908,  and  was  buried  in  the  old  burying-place  of  his 

278 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


family  on  the  I4th.  On  the  following  morning  there  was  a 
requiem-celebration  at  the  Church  of  the  Advent,  Boston,  the 
services  being  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  Catholic  Club, 
of  which  the  deceased  was  a  member.  The  sermon  was 
preached  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cheney;  the  Rev.  Augustus  Prime, 
and  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  H.  Van  Allen  assisted,  and  there 
was  a  large  number  of  the  clergy  in  attendance.  A  "  Minute 
Adopted  by  the  Priests  present  at  the  burial  of  Rev.  Pelham 
Williams,  S.T.D."  reads  as  follows: 

"  By  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Williams  the  American 
Church  has  lost  a  priest  of  profound  learning,  fervid  elo- 
quence, and  unfaltering  loyalty  to  the  Catholic  Faith  and 
Apostolic  Order.  Graduated  from  Harvard  in  1853,  he 
learne/i  the  full  significance  of  its  motto  Christ o  et  Ecclesice, 
and  in  his  ministry  of  more  than  half  a  century  he  bore  splen- 
did witness  to  the  Truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  His  brilliant  in- 
tellect proved  all  things  and  held  fast  to  the  essential  Good; 
his  sparkling  wit  played  around  shams  of  every  sort  with 
unfailing  illumination;  his  heart  overflowed  with  love  to  all 
men,  making  him  truly  a  faithful  shepherd  in  all  the  fields 
where  he  exercised  his  ministry.  Gratefully  acknowledging 
the  inspiration  of  his  good  example,  we  pray  God  may  grant 
him  rest  eternal  in  the  regions  of  perpetual  light."  Signed 
by  Augustus  Prime,  William  F.  Cheney,  Joseph  Dinzey,  Mar- 
cus H.  Carroll,  and  William  Harman  Van  Allen. 

Williams  married,  at  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  August  7,  1861,  Helen  Margaretta  Gunning,  of 
Washington,  who  survives  him.  Their  children  were :  Grace 
Pelham;  Helen  Pelham  and  Agnes  Pelham,  twin  sisters  who 
died  in  infancy;  Amy  Pelham,  who  died  May  21,  1882;  Her- 
bert Pelham  (H.  U.  '92),  born  September  29,  1871. 

DAVIES    WILSON, 

Eldest  child  of  ISRAEL  and  CAROLINE  (DAVIES)  WILSON, 
was  born  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  August  16/1830. 

From  1833  to  1844  he  was  under  various  instructors,  and 
during  the  summer  was  usually  domesticated  in  the  farmhouse 
of  his  paternal  grandfather  in  Warren  County.  In  his  youth 

279 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


he  seems  to  have  had  unusual  opportunities  for  travel,  making 
a  visit  to  Boston  by  way  of  Pennsylvania  in  1844,  returning 
by  way  of  New  York  and  Niagara  Falls,  and  the  years  1847- 
48  were  mostly  spent  in  travelling  which  extended  as  far  as 
Arkansas  and  New  Orleans.  In  1846-47  he  attended  the  St. 
Xavier  (Jesuit)  College,  Cincinnati,  and  stood  well.  In  1848 
he  came  to  Cambridge  to  fit  for  college  under  Shattuck  Hart- 
well,  then  Latin  Tutor,  and  one  year  after  entered  Harvard  as 
Freshman.  During  the  winter  vacations  of  his  Sophomore 
and  Senior  years  he  kept  school  at  South  Scituate  and  Lan- 
caster, Massachusetts.  While  pursuing  his  college  course,  he 
was  involved  in  a  fatal  railroad  collision  in  New  Jersey. 

On  graduating,  in  1853,  he  entered,  without  preliminary 
study  or  preparation,  a  corps  of  engineers  engaged  in  laying 
out  a  short-line  railway  from  Cincinnati  to  Cleveland,  and 
marched  and  countermarched  for  a  year  or  more  in  the 
swamps  of  Central  Ohio,  acquiring  thereby  a  severe  ague. 
The  panic  of  1854  put  an  end  to  the  company  and  the  enter- 
prise. By  nursing  himself  through  the  next  winter  he  was 
prepared  to  go  out,  early  in  1855,  to  the  new  Territory  opened 
by  the  Act  of  1853,  under  the  name  of  Kansas,  in  order  to 
survey  the  proposed  town  of  Manhattan  for  the  use  of  a  col- 
ony organized  in  Cincinnati.  While  this  was  going  on  at  a 
point  east  of  Fort  Riley,  Wilson  took  part  in  the  organization 
of  a  town  to  the  west  of  Fort  Riley  on  the  site  of  the  present 
Junction  City.  This  was  in  1856  and  1857,  and  it  brought  him 
into  a  suit  in  the  Land  Office  at  Ogden,  which  forced  him  into 
practice  of  the  law  from  1858  to  1862.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  Bar  in  the  United  States  District  Court,  October  6,  1859. 

While  living  in  Kansas  Wilson  held  numerous  offices,  among 
them  City  Justice  for  Ogden,  March  19,  1860,  County  Sur- 
veyor for  Riley  County,  November  6,  1860,  and  County  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction,  April  9,  1862. 

Simultaneously  with  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  Kansas 
was  admitted  as  a  State.  In  the  first  State  Senate  in  1861 
Wilson  was  elected  a  clerk.  For  the  year  1862  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  lower  house,  and  was  on  the  commission  to  compile 
the  Territorial  Laws,  of  which  the  Chief  Justice,  Thomas 

280 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Ewing,  Jr.,  afterward  General,  was  President.  He  also  took 
a  leading  part  in  securing  the  location  at  Manhattan  of  the 
State  Agricultural  College,  and  was  one  of  the  managers  of 
the  impeachment  of  three  State  officers,  including  the  Gover- 
nor, Charles  Robinson,  the  charge  being  illegality  in  the  issue 
of  State  bonds,  the  Governor,  according  to  Wilson,  being  the 
one  principally  aimed  at.  If  so,  the  aim  was  wide  of  the  mark, 
for  the  Governor  was  almost  unanimously  acquitted  and  the 
others  found  guilty. 

After  having  assisted  in  raising  the  Ogden  Company  of  the 
loth  Kansas  Volunteers  under  Captain  James  M.  Harvey, 
afterwards  Governor  of  Kansas  and  United  States  Senator 
from  that  State,  Wilson,  in  1862,  entered  into  a  law-partner- 
ship \t  Emporia  with  one  of  his  fellow-legislators,  Preston  B. 
Plumb,  afterwards  United  States  Senator.  His  partner  soon 
left  him  to  become  Major  of  the  nth  Kansas  Volunteers  and 
Chief  of  Staff  of  General  Thomas  Ewing,  Jr.,  at  Kansas  City, 
Missouri,  the  headquarters  of  the  District  of  the  Border.  Wil- 
son, after  closing  the  law  business  at  Emporia,  followed,  and 
in  July,  1863,  became  Volunteer  Aid-de-camp  on  General 
Swing's  staff,  and,  in  1864,  by  order  of  General  Ewing,  tem- 
porarily on  duty  at  headquarters,  which  were  then  at  St.  Louis, 
Missouri,  he  having  previously  acted  as  Assistant  Provost- 
Marshal  of  the  District  of  the  Border.  An  exciting  chase  of 
the  guerilla  Quantrell,  who  pillaged  and  murdered  in  Law- 
rence in  1863,  seems  to  have  been  the  principal  event  of  his 
military  life  at  Kansas  City.  In  the  autumn  of  1864  Kansas 
was  threatened  with  invasion  by  General  Sterling  Price,  and 
twenty-four  regiments  of  State  militia  were  raised  to  meet 
it.  Wilson  enlisted  as  private  in  the  I4th,  and  was  engaged 
in  the  battle  of  Westport,  Missouri,  just  over  the  border,  on 
October  23,  in  which  Generals  Curtis  and  Pleasanton  drove 
back  Price  and  put  an  end  to  the  invasion.  On  April  19,  1865, 
Wilson  received  the  commission  of  Captain  and  Assistant  Ad- 
jutant-General in  the  3d  Brigade  of  the  Kansas  State  Militia, 
serving  as  Chief  of  Staff  of  Brigadier-General  James  M.  Har- 
vey, and  was  discharged  in  the  following  August. 

He  returned  to  Cincinnati  in  1866  to  visit  his  family,  and 

281 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


falling  in  with  some  old  California  miners  who  wished  to 
explore  the  Appalachian  mines,  he  went  with  them  into  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina,  having  a  special  object  of  his  own, 
which  was  to  examine  the  Gold  Hill  Mine,  before  the  war 
operated  by  a  company  of  Boston  owners.  Detained  in  the 
East  by  these  occupations,  he  took  up  his  residence  in  the  city 
of  Washington,  and  by  the  aid  of  his  friends,  Senators  Pome- 
roy  and  Ross,  of  Kansas,  he  entered  the  Patent  Office  as  Tem- 
porary Clerk,  September  12,  1867.  He  was  promoted  to  be 
a  Second  Class  Clerk,  June  i,  1868,  a  Second  Assistant  Ex- 
aminer, January  15,  1869,  and  First  Assistant  Examiner, 
May  i,  1869.  On  May  3,  1871,  he  married  at  Dorchester, 
Massachusetts,  Mehitable  Calef  Coppenhagen,  daughter  of 
Arnold  Wilhelm  Martel  and  Mehitable  Miller  (Calef)  Coppen- 
hagen, a  descendant  of  Robert  Calef,  memorable  for  his  book 
on  witchcraft,  written  in  opposition  to  Cotton  Mather.  He 
resigned  his  position  at  the  Patent  Office  on  the  3ist  of  the 
same  month,  and  took  his  bride  to  California  for  a  six  months' 
sojourn. 

The  next  eighteen  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  the  high, 
commanding,  and  beautiful  part  of  his  native  Cincinnati 
called  Price  Hill.  His  semi-rural  residence  comprised  a 
broad  and  commodious  house,  a  stable,  and  nine  acres  of 
ground  in  garden  and  pasturage.  This  estate  has,  since  his 
death,  been  presented  to  the  city  of  Cincinnati  by  his  widow 
to  be  used  as  a  public  pleasure  ground  and  to  be  known  as 
Wilson  Common.  While  there  he  occupied  himself  in  the 
occasional  exercise  of  what  he  considered  his  original  profes- 
sion, civil  engineering,  and  in  various  ways  of  making  himself 
useful  to  the  public.  Amongst  others  he  was  much  interested 
in  the  Tax  Payers'  League,  formed  to  promote  municipal 
economy,  and  was  President  of  the  Eleventh  District  Society 
of  Associated  Charities. 

In  1889  he  removed  to  Washington  for  a  change  of  climate, 
and  then,  in  1901,  to  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  enjoying  the  opportunities  for 
gratifying  his  literary,  artistic,  and  musical  tastes  which  Bos- 
ton and  Cambridge  afford,  and  giving  his  classmates  the  pleas- 

282 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


ure  of  welcoming  him  after  a  long  absence  to  their  meetings. 
Unfortunately  this  renewed  acquaintance  was  not  to  be  of 
long  duration.  He  died  at  Cambridge  of  bronchial  pneu- 
monia, after  a  short  illness,  on  May  19,  1905,  leaving  a  widow 
but  no  surviving  children.  A  funeral  service  was  held  in  Mt. 
Auburn  Chapel  on  the  22d,  at  which  his  Cincinnati  pastor, 
Rev.  Charles  W.  Wendte,  paid  an  affectionate  tribute  to  his 
amiable  qualities  and  his  refined  tastes. 

JUSTIN    WINSOR, 

Son  of  NATHANIEL,  JR.,  and  ANN  THOMAS  (ROWLAND) 
WINSOR,  was  born  at  Boston,  January  2,  1831. 

-?Ie  was  prepared  for  college  at  the  Boston  Latin  School, 
which  he  entered  in  1845.  Before  his  entrance  at  Harvard 
as  Freshman  in  1849  he  was  a  full-fledged  author,  having 
completed  and  put  to  press  his  "  History  of  the  Town  of  Dux- 
bury,"  the  birthplace  and  home  of  both  his  father  and  mother, 
which  was  published  in  that  year. 

Winsor's  love  of  reading  distracted  his  mind  from  the  regu- 
lar college  course,  in  which  he  took  but  little  interest  and 
found  but  little  profit.  His  ambition  was  to  be  a  literary  man 
in  some  general  sense,  probably  not  exactly  defined  to  himself, 
and  while  at  Cambridge  he  began  extensive  preparations  for 
a  "  Life  of  Garrick,"  on  which  he  subsequently  worked  for 
eleven  years.  By  the  end  of  the  Junior  year  college  life  had 
become  so  great  a  burden  that  he  obtained  his  father's  consent 
to  leave,  and  on  October  n,  1852,  he  sailed  from  New  York 
for  Havre,  intending  to  pursue  his  studies  at  a  German  Uni- 
versity. He  reached  Havre  October  28,  and  went  at  once  to 
Paris,  where  he  acquired  the  French  language,  and  in  Decem- 
ber witnessed  the  proclamation  of  the  Second  Empire.  Two 
years  were  passed  in  Paris  and  Heidelberg  in  the  mastery  of 
French  and  German,  and  some  journeys  were  made,  chiefly  on 
foot.  Meanwhile  he  was  working  at  translations  and  essays 
and  some  original  poems,  and  collected  material  for  a  large 
volume.  In  September,  1854,  he  returned  to  Boston,  where 
he  resided  as  a  member  of  his  father's  household  until  his  re- 
moval to  Cambridge. 

283 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


From  the  time  of  his  return  to  America  until  1868  he  led 
the  life  of  a  man  of  letters.  He  published  no  book  during  this 
period,  but  he  was  associated  with  the  Rev.  George  H.  Hep- 
worth  in  the  compilation  of  a  hymn-book  for  the  use  of  the 
Church  of  the  Unity,  called  "  Songs  of  the  Unity."  He  him- 
self wrote  a  hymn  for  the  installation  of  Mr.  Hepworth.  He 
was,  however,  an  active  contributor  of  original  poems  and 
book  reviews  and  translated  essays  to  the  periodicals  of  the 
day,  especially  the  "  Crayon/'  the  "  Round  Table,"  the  "  New 
York  World,"  the  "  Knickerbocker/'  and  the  "  Christian  Reg- 
ister." He  did  not  publish  the  book  he  brought  home  from 
Europe,  but  used  the  material  in  a  variety  of  forms,  contrib- 
uting, for  instance,  to  the  "  Round  Table  "  a  serial,  "  The 
Heidelberg  Brotherhood/'  in  which  a  group  of  characters  dis- 
cussed German  poetry.  All  the  time  he  was  working  at  his 
"  Life  of  Garrick,"  begun  in  his  college  days,  the  first  draft 
of  which  occupies  ten  manuscript  folio  volumes,  but  which 
was  never  completed. 

The  association  which  he  had  formed  with  men  of  letters  in 
Boston  led  to  his  appointment  in  1866  to  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  the  Boston  Public  Library.  His  masterly  "  Report " 
in  1867  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Trustees  and  of  the 
public.  On  the  death  of  Mr.  Jewett,  the  Superintendent,  Win- 
sor  was  called  on  to  take  temporary  charge  of  the  Library. 
In  a  few  weeks  he  had  so  demonstrated  his  capability  that  he 
was  confirmed  in  the  office.  By  the  way  in  which  he  admin- 
istered it  he  became  the  best-known  librarian  in  the  country. 
He  had  the  born  organizer's  eye  for  the  choice  of  subordinates, 
with  the  power  of  impressing  himself  upon  them,  and  an  in- 
exhaustible supply  of  energy  to  make  the  machine  go.  He 
carried  the  Library  substantially  on  the  lines  of  his  predeces- 
sors, but  he  developed  the  efficiency  of  their  ideas  to  the 
utmost.  He  took  a  library  of  (in  round  numbers)  150,000 
volumes  with  a  circulation  of  175,000;  he  left,  after  ten  years, 
a  library  of  310,000  volumes  circulating  1,140,000  volumes  a 
year,  and  running  so  smoothly  that,  for  a  long  time  after  he 
resigned  the  charge,  it  was  not  perceived  that  there  was  no 
librarian. 

284 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


In  1877  there  was  a  period  of  general  financial  distress.  It 
seemed  that  the  time  had  come  to  economize  in  the  expenses 
of  the  Library,  and  the  management  was  ready  to  adjust  its 
expenses  to  the  exigencies  which  had  arisen.  But  the  City 
Council  assumed  to  regulate  the  details  of  a  method  of  econ- 
omy, and  did  it  with  such  lack  of  knowledge  that  confusion 
and  injustice  resulted.  In  this  contingency  Winsor  resigned, 
and  President  Eliot,  with  his  accustomed  sagacity,  secured  the 
appointment,  as  Librarian  of  Harvard  University,  as  successor 
to  John  Langdon  Sibley,  of  his  classmate,  whose  name  had 
been  formally  added  in  1868  to  the  class  list  of  Bachelors  of 
Arts,  out  of  course. 

One  feature  of  Winsor's  management  of  the  Boston  Public 
Library  was  his  desire  to  furnish  books  that  people  wished 
to  read,  without  attempting  to  regulate  too  strictly  their 
choice.  The  supply  of  cheap  fiction  was  largely  diminished  by 
his  successors.  Another  feature  was  the  issue  of  annotated 
catalogues,  in  which  valuable  information  relating  to  the 
books  offered  was  contained,  the  novelty  and  copiousness  of 
which  excited  the  astonishment  of  English  librarians. 

He  made  it  a  condition  in  going  to  Cambridge  that  his  rank 
should  be  the  same  as  that  of  a  professor,  which  was  readily 
conceded,  and  he  carried  with  him  his  principle  that  "  books 
should  be  used  "  and  not  merely  accumulated  and  preserved. 
His  new  position  brought  him  into  the  most  congenial  rela- 
tions. He  used  to  say  that  as  a  student  he  was  miserable,  but 
that  when  he  returned  as  an  officer  he  was  more  happily  placed 
than  ever  in  his  life. 

It  was  during  his  life  at  Cambridge  that  he  added  to  his 
literary  work  as  bibliographer  that  of  author  and  editor  of 
historical  works  on  a  large  scale,  the  most  notable  being  the 
"  Memorial  History  of  Boston,"  in  four  volumes,  1880-81, 
and  the  "  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America/'  in  eight 
volumes,  1884-89.  Nothing  quite  like  these  works  had  before 
been  attempted.  His  executive  ability  was  clearly  shown  in 
the  enterprise.  He  classified  the  work,  assigned  the  parts  to  a 
large  number  of  special  writers,  and  transacted  thoroughly 
the  editorial  portion.  The  books  were  enriched  with  a  large 

285 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


number  of  maps,  portraits,  fac-similes,  and  other  illustrations, 
and  the  editor's  notes  form  so  valuable  a  part  of  the  perform- 
ance that  it  was  said  that  the  cream  of  the  work  was  at  the 
bottom.  He  early  perceived  the  great  assistance  rendered  to 
history  by  cartography.  His  interest  in  map-drawing  was  one 
of  the  earliest  he  displayed.  When  a  school  boy  he  made  maps 
of  Duxbury.  He  collected  and  made  maps  when  travelling  in 
this  country  and  afterwards  in  Europe.  When  superintending 
the  history  of  our  new  continent,  and  when  familiarizing  him- 
self with  the  resources  of  the  University  library,  singularly 
rich  in  maps  and  charts,  he  rapidly  became  an  expert  in  the 
science.  His  services  were  more  than  once  called  for  by  the 
United  States  government,  especially  in  the  Behring  Sea  dis- 
pute, and  also  from  time  to  time  during  1896,  when  he  was 
repeatedly  summoned,  once  from  a  class  dinner,  by  the  com- 
missioners appointed  to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  true 
divisional  line  between  Venezuela  and  British  Guiana. 

Indeed  this  science  of  cartography  gave  the  leading  impulse 
to  what  was  the  crowning  work  of  his  life  —  the  four,  volumes 
of  "Christopher  Columbus,"  1891;  "  Cartier  to  Frontenac," 
1894;  "The  Mississippi  Basin,"  1895,  and  "The  Westward 
Movement,"  1897.  ^n  these  he  traced  the  development  of  the 
geographical  knowledge  of  North  America  from  the  first 
voyage  of  Columbus  to  the  movement  which  defined  the  trans- 
Mississippi  region  and  the  Pacific  coast.  He  engaged  in  direct 
teaching.  He  invited  students  to  form  a  class  and  relied 
for  stimulus  and  spur  on  their  interest  in  the  subject.  His 
examination  consisted  in  asking  each  what  part  of  the  course 
had  most  interested  him,  and  when  the  question  was  answered 
he  marked  him  A. 

In  1884  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Robinson  one  of  five 
commissioners  to  investigate  the  records  and  documents  in  the 
State  Department  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  served  in  this 
capacity  until  his  death.  He  was  editor  of  the  first  report,  in 
1885.  ' 

Winsor  made  occasional  journeys  to  Europe,  one  of  them 
being  of  a  year's  length,  when  he  resided  chiefly  in  England 
and  Italy,  and  the  letters  which  he  wrote  to  the  "  New  York 

286 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Nation  "  give  an  agreeable  impression  of  the  visits  which  he 
made  to  great  libraries  and  collections.  Material  for  his  "  Life 
of  Columbus  "  was  collected  in  the  libraries  of  Spain  and 
Italy. 

Winsor  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  American  Library 
Association,  and  its  President  from  1876  to  1886;  Corre- 
sponding Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society, 
1881-94,  and  Vice-President,  1894-97;  Member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Philosophical  Society;  Fellow  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Arts  and  Sciences;  Corresponding  Member  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Canada;  Honorary  Member  of  the  Literary  and 
Historical  Society  of  Quebec ;  Honorary  Corresponding  Mem- 
ber of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  of  London.  He  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  LL.D.  from  the  University  of  Michigan 
in  1887  and  from  Williams  College  in  1893. 

Winsor's  opera  magna  have  been  mentioned  above,  but  to 
appreciate  his  marvellous  literary  activity  and  industry  one 
must  consult  the  compilation  entitled  "  A  Bibliography  of 
Justin  Winsor/*  being  No.  54  in  the  Bibliographical  Contri- 
butions issued  by  the  Library  of  Harvard  University,  prepared 
by  William  F.  Yust,  1902. 

Winsor's  last  illness  was  very  short.  Returning  from  an 
International  Convention  of  Librarians  held  in  London,  he 
took  cold  on  the  voyage,  which  aggravated  the  effects  of  a 
subsequent  surgical  operation.  He  died  on  October  22,  1897, 
at  his  home  on  Buckingham  Street,  Cambridge. 

Winsor  married  Caroline  Tufts,  daughter  of  Ebenezer  and 
Sally  (Fuller)  Barker,  of  Charlestown,  in  December,  1855, 
and  had  one  daughter,  Constance,  born  May  13,  1860,  married 
to  James  Atkins  Noyes,  February  4,  1890.  She  died  January 
i,  1895.  His  funeral,  on  October  26,  from  the  College  Chapel, 
was  largely  attended;  the  Library  and  other  departments  were 
represented,  and  the  Class  of  1853  by  Professor  James  Mills 
Peirce,  as  pall  bearers,  as  well  as  by  the  President  in  his  offi- 
cial capacity.  In  the  foregoing  account  the  excellent  Memoir 
by  Horace  E.  Scudder,  contained  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society  for  1899,  has  been  largely 
drawn  upon. 

287 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


Caroline  T.  Winsor,  widow  of  Justin  Winsor,  died  at  Ar- 
lington Heights,  September  26,  1911,  in  the  eighty-second  year 
of  her  age. 

WILLIAM    PRESCOTT    WRIGHT, 

Only  son  of  JOHN  WRIGHT  (H.  U.  1823)  and  SUSAN 
(PRESCOTT)  WRIGHT,  was  born  at  Groton,  Massachusetts, 
March  18,  1832.  His  mother  was  a  well-known  teacher  in 
Groton,  and  of  the  historic  family. 

At  the  end  of  a  year  his  parents  removed  to  Worcester, 
where  he  received  his  earliest  school  education.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1843  ms  father  having  been  made  Agent  of  the  Suf- 
folk Mills,  his  residence  was  changed  to  Lowell,  where  he 
passed  through  the  public  schools,  and  received  his  final  pre- 
paratory instruction  for  admission  to  college  under  a  private 
teacher,  entering  Harvard  as  Freshman  in  1849. 

After  graduating  he  began  the  study  of  the  law  at  Lowell, 
in  the  office  of  the  Hon.  Nathan  Crosby,  Judge  of  the  Police 
Court  of  that  city.  He  attended  the  Harvard  Law  School  for 
two  terms  of  the  academical  year  1855-56,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  Middlesex  Bar  in  September,  1856.  Though  not  at  any 
time  a  regularly  appointed  Clerk  of  the  Police  Court,  he  as- 
sisted Judge  Crosby  in  the  capacity  of  Clerk,  but  did  not  after- 
wards practise  his  profession.  About  the  year  1856  he  re- 
moved to  Chicago  and  established  himself  in  commercial  busi- 
ness. Later  he  entered  upon  the  business  of  banking,  broker- 
age, and  real  estate. 

Owing  to  ill  health,  the  latter  part  of  his  life  was  spent  in 
retirement  from  active  affairs.  He  died  at  Chicago  May  9, 
1896.  He  was  married,  April  7,  1858,  at  Galesburg,  Illinois, 
to  Lydia  Abbie,  daughter  of  John  and  Abigail  (Hall)  Keyser, 
sometime  of  Waltham  and  afterwards  of  Lowell,  Massachu- 
setts, by  whom  he  had  three  children :  Susan  Prescott,  born 
January  9,  1864,  died  June  7,  1865;  Herbert  Hamilton,  born 
September  21,  1866;  John  Prescott,  born  July  12,  1871.  His 
wife  and  sons  survived  him. 


288 


INDEX 

PAGE 

PREFACE .  v 

PREFATORY  NOTE vii 

LIFE-SKETCHES 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS 15 

EDWARD  HOLMES  AMMIDOWN 21 

EDWARD  REYNOLDS  ANDREWS 25 

GORDON  BARTLET 32 

JOSIAH  KENDALL  BENNETT 33 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  BILLINGS vii 

CHARLES  FREDERIC  BLAKE 35 

GEORGE  HENRY  BLANCHARD     38 

CHARLES  EDWARD  BRIGGS 38 

JOSEPH  MANSFIELD  BROWN 44 

ALBERT  GALLATIN  BROWNE 46 

JOHN  DUNCAN  BRYANT 51 

SAMUEL  CAREY vii 

CHARLES  CARROLL 54 

EDWARD  HENRY  CHACE vii 

NATHAN  HENRY  CHAMBERLAIN 56 

THEODORE  CHASE 58 

BENJAMIN  CUTLER  CLARK 59 

NATHAN  JAMES  CLIFFORD vii 

URIEL  HASKELL  CROCKER 62 

WILLIAM  HENRY  CUNNINGHAM 67 

ELBRIDGE  JEFFERSON  CUTLER 68 

GEORGE  OSGOOD  DALTON 71 

JOHN  DAVES 74 

WILLIAM  SIDNEY  DAVIS 75 

MOSES  HENRY  DAY 77 

WILLIAM  EDWARD  DORSHEIMER  . 78 

ATWOOD  HARLOW  DREW ' 81 

289 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


PAGE 

ORMOND  HORACE  BUTTON 82 

GEORGE  RUSSELL  DWELLEY 83 

WILDER  DWIGHT 87 

HENRY  AUGUSTUS  EDWARDS vii 

CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT 95 

JOHN  ERVING 116 

CORNELIUS  FISKE 118 

EDWARD  FISKE 119 

WILLIAM  LEONARD  GAGE      121 

EDWARD  CHIPMAN  GUILD 123 

WILLIAM  WARE  HALL 128 

GARDINER  GREEN  HAMMOND vii 

WILLIAM  PENN  HARDING 129 

GEORGE  WALKER  HART  WELL 134 

ADAMS  SHERMAN  HILL 135 

HAMILTON  ALONZO  HILL     I41 

ALFRED  HOSMER      142 

ANDREW  JACKSON  HOWE 144 

EDWARD  HOWLAND 146 

CHARLES  HENRY  KURD     152 

JOHN  WILLSON  HUTCHINS 157 

GEORGE  SMITH  HYDE 158 

SAMUEL  EDWIN  IRESON 159 

CHARLES  JACOBS 161 

AMOS  HOWE  JOHNSON 162 

CHARLES  EVERETT  JOHNSON 165 

JOSHUA  KENDALL 166 

EDWARD  KING 167 

CHARLES  FREDERICK  LIVERMORE     172 

ARTHUR  THEODORE  LYMAN 175 

FRANCIS  McGuiRE 178 

GEORGE  FREDERICK  MEACHAM      179 

CHARLES  APPLETON  MILES 180 

RAYMOND  MOULTON 181 

JOHN  GODFREY  NEIL vii 

HENRY  STEDMAN  NOURSE 184 

STEPHEN  BUTTRICK  NOYES 189 

CHARLES  JACKSON  PAINE 19° 

GEORGE  STURGIS  PAINE 196 

JOHN  CARVER  PALFREY     197 

290 


Harvard  Class  of  1853 


PAGE 

EDWARD  PEARCE 202 

WILLIAM  HENRY  PECK 204 

JAMES  MILLS  PEIRCE      208 

ELLIS  PETERSON      213 

CHARLES  COOLIDGE  POMEROY 216 

ROBERT  SAMUEL  RANTOUL 217 

FRANCIS  GARDINER  RICHARDS      »    .  226 

ADOLPHE  ROST vii 

WILLIAM  HENRY  ROWE 227 

FRANCIS  HENRY  RUSSELL      229 

GEORGE  HENRY  SARGENT 230 

WINSLOW  WARREN  SEVER 233 

SAMUEL  SAVAGE  SHAW      236 

WILLIAM  INSKEEP  SHREVE 238 

EDWARD  SUTTON  SMITH 239 

GEORGE  SMITH 240 

JOHN  HENRY  SULLIVAN 243 

EDWARD  JARVIS  TENNEY 244 

FRANCIS  WALES  VAUGHAN 246 

DAVID  HENSHAW  WARD 248 

GEORGE  SMITH  WARDWELL 251 

JOHN  DAVIS  WASHBURN 253 

SYLVESTER  WATER  HOUSE      256 

AARON  DAVIS  WELD      266 

JAMES  CLARKE  WHITE      267 

HORACE  OSCAR  WHITTEMORE 272 

WILLIAM  HENRY  WHITTEMORE 276 

PELHAM   WILLIAMS 276 

DAVIES  WILSON 279 

JUSTIN  WINSOR 283 

WILLIAM  PRESCOTT  WRIGHT  288 


291 


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